A Prince's Duty
by BonusPoints
Summary: An alternate story of how Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty came to Nerima, and why. The fate of the Musk hinges on the Prince's adventure and what he'll learn from it.
1. Chapter 1: Setting Out

_**Disclaimer**: **Ranma 1/2, and all its characters are not my property.**_

**Author's Note: Welcome to my first fanfiction! I hope that you're as pleased to read it as I was to write it. Unlike a very large number of Ranma 1/2 fics, I've chosen to focus the spotlight on characters outside the main cast to give myself a bit more wiggle room with their characters. Easy way out? Sure, but I _am _enjoying the way things are going. This is something of an AltUniverse fic, with the vast majority of changes affecting the Musk Dynsaty and Jusenkyo. ****As a project designed to help me recover from a decade long writer's block, I _must_ post often. Chapters will usually be fairly modest in length. My hope is to put out larger chapters for future fics, but not this one barring extenuating circumstances. So, yeah, have fun!**__

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**A Prince's Duty - Chapter 1: Setting Out**

"Hindsight is a bitch", a tall figure clad head to toe in pristine silks complained to the wind while leaning over the ship's railing. Shanghai's harbour was rapidly becoming indistinguishable from the shore, now, and it looked likely to be some time before she and her companions would be returning. Brushing a stray lock of black hair back into her cowl, the Musk prince only wished that would be true. She reflected that her luck had not been terribly impressive for the rest of her journey, either, and thus a long delay _was _too much to hope for. Even before the shore was out of sight it was lost to Herb's fiery eyes; the prince was focused on remembering the throne room.

"Damn you, father." and Herb heard those words both as _she_ whispered them today and as _he_ had cried them out in protest almost four months ago.

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"Damn you, father!" a broader, male Herb in tighter fitting silk robes of white and scale-patterned green bound to flexible golden epaulets yelled at the old king, who sat through the outburst without raising an eyebrow. Herb was no fool. He knew that his father was simply waiting for him to exhaust his rage, for surprise and fury to give way to confusion and resignation. He knew this because it was the way his father preferred their conversations to go, and the prince wondered whether he could overcome that tired pattern today. Seeing his furious expression in the expansive mirror behind his father's throne, pale, sweating, and clenching his jaw, some tiny dispassionate part of the heir to the Musk Dynasty's mind informed him that the odds were not in his favour.

Those servants who had not been swift enough to vacate the throne room in advance, busied themselves about cleaning the room's corners. A particularly cautious, though embarrassingly conspicuous man of Monkey heritage set about washing the outsides of the palace's windows after leaping out of one. Herb identified him as Cumin in that moment, and made a note to visit some unpleasantness upon him at their next meeting. An argument between Dragons was something to be avoided by all lesser beings, so said the histories; it was just unthinkably rude to _look_ as though one were avoiding them.

Struggling to settle himself so as to hold onto a little anger for longer, Herb relaxed himself by cooling his own ki. Only a few heartbeats had passed since his violent entrance, and the only remaining outward sign of his fury was in his twitching ears. When he spoke again, his voice was both forceful and clear of unnecessary emotion. "Father, you have forbidden my teachers to instruct me and decreed that none might train with me. You have induced the cooks to throw to the ground and soil any food at hand on my approach, just as you have ordered that none might speak to, serve, aid, or accompany me." Herb's irritation was creeping into his voice once more at his father's complete lack of reaction A stone might have concerned itself more had he deigned to accuse it of the same. The prince plunged onward with a suppressed growl. "You have even sent away Lime and Mint, the companions you, yourself chose for me when I was but a child. I will know why."

The monarch so addressed merely shifted in his cross-legged position atop his ornately carved throne, before reaching for a small black teacup beside him. Herb watched in mounting frustration as his father lazily lifted the cup to his lips and sipped loudly. For an Octogenarian, the man had frighteningly good control. His son knew from experience that the king was growing no weaker, either. He felt a momentary pride that, while his line might not lead lives quite so extended as those of the amazons, at least they were never made to suffer the indignities of a deformed and twisted body. This did little to settle Herb's mood, though, and by the time his father had finished his extended sip the young man was suffering from a nervous tick in his left eye.

"Boy," the Dragon king began, his words coming forth slowly and deliberately, "I recall telling you that I intended for you to produce children. It is my hope that you will not now call into question your sire's memory." The old king's eyes hardened as he challenged his heir to deny the statement.

It took a moment for Herb to fully digest his father's words. When he did, he could feel the calm fleeing him, and was glad he had made no wagers on this conversation. Even still, he stubbornly continued, hoping against hope to finish without trying and failing to throttle the old bastard. His words came out clipped and with obvious frustration. "That was this afternoon." He could feel the anger rising even now.

The king only nodded briefly, then took another prolonged sip of tea before placing his cup back down on his throne's arm. "Yes, that sounds right. Now Herb, it should be clear to both of us why I am upset by your present activity. Specifically, your lack of activity." Far from sounding upset, there was obvious joy and humour in those words. No feature on the aged monarch's face changed, but he was laughing at Herb

The prince of the Musk could feel himself baring his fangs.

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Herb was shaken from her recollections quite vigorously, catching the tail end of something her larger companion was saying. She still hadn't completely understood, but it had something to do with food. Herb quashed a sudden surge of fear at the large man's proximity.

Without turning to Lime, Herb brushed the large man's hand from her shoulder and took a few steps away from him. She could tell this hurt the man of the Tiger, but refused to allow closeness. Even her companions couldn't be allowed to know of her curse. It would make handling them very tedious indeed. She adamantly refused to acknowledge the other uncomfortable things it would be, aside from tedious

Her voice came out in a hush, the better to disguise its new pitch. "You have distracted me from important meditation, Lime. Why?" Herb hoped that Lime and Mint would both take her taciturn behaviour into account and stop trying to talk to her. The disguise fairly relied on them not finding anything particularly strange. One with Dragon heritage could only stretch the excuse of illness for so long before becoming highly suspect. Ever since Jusenkyo, Herb had gone from cursing the simplicity of the two young warriors to rejoicing in it. _'That is hardly the only thing that has changed drastically now, is it, _Princess _Herb'?_

"The crew are having food!" Exclaimed the huge warrior, his feral, slitted eyes shining at the prospect of eating.

Relief that her companion was not too upset at her behaviour warred with caution for only a moment. "Very good," Herb said, "enjoy it. I will take my meal in my room. Dissuade the crew from disturbing me."

With her face safely obscured, Herb favoured the warrior with a fond smile. He and Mint were instrumental to the success of this plan. She needed someone to work to support the travel expenses, and it would be improper for a prince to do so, especially a prince doing her level best to disguise that it would be more appropriate to call her a princess.

Pushing thoughts of the curse from her mind, Herb strode past Lime and made her way below deck.

The alien sensation of being surrounded on all sides by metal eclipsed any strangeness magic had ever inflicted on the heir to the Musk Dynasty. The modern cities she had visited had been odd enough, but at least they had been open to the sky. These corridors and her room both were too small for Herb to practice her Dragon martial arts, and she dared not damage anything lest she be expected to forfeit what meagre funds she'd managed to raise for her quest. It was not natural to be so small and meek.

Passing by the dining area, Herb was pleasantly surprised that Mint was getting along well with the crew. _'It's little wonder. His lighthearted and easy-going demeanour would disarm anyone. And his dumb grin is just so damned cute.' _A growing redness in her cheeks safely obscured by the cloth wrapped about her face, Herb stiffened and redoubled her pace toward the safety of her room, the entrance already in sight. The transformed prince rapidly opened the door, entered, and sealed herself within.

With practised self-control and extraordinary willpower, Herb passed the minutes until Lime came with her meal leaning back against the door rather than banging her head against a wall to more quickly drown out embarrassment with pain. She mechanically and wordlessly accepted the food, not so much as looking at the man. It was unnecessary for the sake of knowing of the concern displayed on his face, and unproductive for ridding herself of the unease that had rooted itself in her stomach.

Settling down to enjoy the first of several lonely meals aboard this ship, Herb hoped she could acquire proper attire to swim back. Once the curse was no longer locked, it would only be half as mortifying to reveal it. Herb mentally kicked herself for taking the Chiisuiton along to Jusenkyo for perhaps the fifth time that day; she had grown lax in her self-chastising.

Much to Herb's disappointment, the ship's cook fancied himself something of a chef. This resulted in an excellent meal that was too rich to eat more than half of before setting it aside. That had been one of the great shocks of the modern urban centres she'd been visiting. The thick gravies, rich broths, and incredibly sweet sauces had all gone a long way to upset Herb's stomach on her earliest visits. Even now, she doubted the night would pass without disturbance from the half-eaten beef and noodle something-or-other. The already rich noodles seemed to have been soaked in something unwholesome to worsen that state. At least the vegetables had been crisp and clean, once they had been liberated from the creamy sauce coating the top of them. _'I will speak to the chef in the morning. He will surely be willing to prepare some simpler dishes when asked. I won't suffer like this all the way to Japan.'_

A course of action in mind to at least make this next leg of her adventure more agreeable, Herb confidently walked to the bathroom to get cleaned up. Despite the name, there was no proper bath. The Musk prince has mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, it had been ages since she had relaxed properly and with no danger of someone walking in on her. On the other hand, apart from completely different fingers, was it really in her best interest to get more comfortable with this body, so different from her true form for all that it _looked_ so alike? The Jusenkyo springs guide himself had been quite firm that hers was an enviably similar body to her true form's.

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For all his years of training, for all the countless hours of honing his reflexes and mastering his instincts, nothing at all had prepared the young crown prince of the Musk Dynasty for the most traumatic three seconds of his young life.

It had been simplicity itself to capture the monkey. With it, he would be able not only to test a desperate theory that the Spring of Drowned Girl conferred extraordinary fertility, but also to gift the fool Cumin with a wife at once too inhuman to ever bring him joy, and too traditionally appropriate to be refused.

It had been a small bother to dismiss the worry that this action was too petty and cruel to execute. Herb needed to test this option to determine a possible solution to declining birth rates among the Musk, and the cowardly servant had been a prime contributor to the unsightly fury the prince had exhibited in front of his father; the noble intent and pettiness quite cancelled out on his hastily constructed moral scales.

There had been a brief delay to explain his scholarly intent and ancient heritage to the portly Jusenkyo guide. The man had been insistent that the Pools of Sorrow would ultimately bring only that, but could not long argue with the charismatic and powerful prince before showing him the way to the desired spring. Along the way, the guide had instructed Herb to follow in his footprints exactly, as the cursed springs were quite good at taking advantage of any opportunity to strike out at visitors.

It had been fairly challenging to pry the monkey's grip away from his own clothes, lift it overhead, and launch it into the Nyanniichuan. The monkey had exhibited all of the grappling competence and grip strength for which practitioners of its style were renowned for. Perhaps the monkey was a prime specimen and more of a favour for Cumin than Herb had originally intended. It was the way of a wise monarch to only mete out vengeance that a wise man could learn to thank him for.

Had not the young prince been so in awe at the sight of a voluptuous and entirely naked girl leaping from the water, it would have been as easy as his first task to avoid the spray of water surging behind her as she soared over his head. Had he not been reeling with shock as the change overtook him he would have at least seen the once-monkey miss her landing, tripping over the edge of the Chiisuiton and sending the ladle spinning into the air, even if he, now _she_ had failed to dodge its payload. Had the new Musk princess not just suffered this series of events one after another in such a short span of time, she certainly would not have blacked out in shock.

A very disoriented Herb woke on a ground level mattress with a surprisingly comfortable pillow. She was in a cozy little cabin, was dry and warm, had lost all of her clothes, and was covered now only by a thin blanket. She was, based on knowledge acquired from scrolls and paintings on the subject, quite obviously a woman. This failed to produce an excited reaction within her, in fact, she felt more subdued than she had since her father's mad proclamation.

There was some small sound coming from beyond the closed door to the cabin. A plain white teapot sat on a simple grey cloth on an unremarkable wooden table. While it was clear someone lived in the cabin, there was no sign of decoration save a calendar with some dates highlighted.

Moments after Herb had begun taking in her environment, the door opened and the Jusenkyo guide entered, speaking to himself about terrible luck and tragic curses. It left her with the distinct impression that the man was practising, running through a routine he had mastered long ago.

Herb moved to a sitting position, careful to keep draped in the blanket. The process was far more challenging than she'd anticipated. "Guide to the Cursed Training Ground Jusenkyo, do I want to know why I am lying naked on your floor?" She had meant for the words to sound cold but threatening. They came out as something little more than a mumble. Enunciation was proving tricky.

"Ah, honoured visitor to Jusenkyo, a great trage-," the broad man had turned, already launching into his nasal speech only to find Herb scowling at him. Taking a moment to cough, the guide continued more normally. "The monkey you threw in splashed you, and your locking artifact hit you instead of it. You seemed in shock, then tipped forward into the spring. I fished you out, brought you here, and am now drying your clothes just out back."

Nodding dumbly, Herb tried to get to her feet but wound up sprawled back on the mattress. She tried to ask the guide what was going on, and was slurring her words badly. "Why do I feel this way? I can't get my balance, guide." It proved a sufficient challenge just to get the blanket back over her exposed breasts. That still failed to bother her too much, but it was curious and had to be off, somehow.

The guide was beside her, placing a steaming wooden cup on the ground before she'd even registered his movement from across the room. He was saying something, but it was getting harder to make sense of it, as though he was speaking through a gag. Knowing something to be the matter, Herb ran through a simple waking ki practise. It consisted of nothing more difficult than inflaming her ki reserves to go from the perfect placidity of sleep to violent activity in a heartbeat. Even this proved challenging, her ki simply did not burn at command, for some reason. Still, she was rewarded with her environment's sudden return to clarity.

"...time they blew up half my roof. No, now all recently cursed visitors get a cocktail of drugs to make them more passive until after the surprise of their condition wears off. I feel foolish for how many years it took me to start doing this. I'm saving a fortune in repairs, and most visitors are adapting better as well." The guide seemed to have stopped paying attention to her, and was speaking more to himself at this point. Herb considered letting that stand, but had not clawed her way back to full consciousness just to listen to the guide ramble, even if it would be so much easier.

Despite the difficulty, Herb returned to a sitting position. She smiled at the surprised look in the guide's eyes, and took that too as a minor triumph in a surprisingly bad day. This time, her speech was almost perfectly clear. "I don't need you to explain the reasons for your decision not to have your home destroyed time and again, guide. I must dress. It would not do to be seen this way." It was at that point she noticed the guide's eyes had drifted away from her own, and toward her now exposed breasts. Heat rising in her cheeks, the Musk prince lifted the sheets once again and glared darkly at the man.

To his credit, the guide quickly rose to his feet and turned away. He removed a full length mirror and a pole with a curtain attached from a nearby closet, then returned to where Herb sat. "I put these up in this corner of the room when my daughter comes to visit, some weekends. I will set up the curtain, and you can handle the mirror from your side." He paused to chuckle. "You are lucky, prince Herb of the Musk. You look very like yourself. The last visitor to fall into that pool lost nearly two heads of height, had his hair change colour from black to red, and had breasts too heavy to fit in his own hands." The curtain in position, the man had vanished, leaving Herb with the tea and a mirror.

A few sips of the warm and unsurprisingly low-quality beverage did wonders for Herb's recovered awareness. Standing steadily took a bit of time, but once she had it things rapidly became easier. Placing the mirror she'd been given against the wall and greeted a face with which she was fairly well acquainted, attached to a body she couldn't have known less about. Carefully brushing out the pink tail in her hair, untangling the black tresses, and straightening her white bangs, all from memory, she set about learning the rest. _'So, you are Herb, Prince of the Musk Dynasty until I can find the lost Kaisuifuu. You don't have much to live up to, at least. I hope my clothes dry soon so I don't have to explain this to Lime and Mint.' _The Musk prince was already planning her return to at least part-time masculinity.

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**Closing Author's Note: This chapter hasn't got a lot of action. It doesn't even have much in the way of dialog. I hope to have future chapters contain a fair bit more of both. Hopefully you'll stay tuned for the next chapter, where Herb talks to someone for an extended period, and the voyage to Tokyo ends.**

**Please review this story; it's my first fanfic and I'd rather like to read your thoughts. If you liked it, let me know. If you hated it, let me know. If you got a really swell idea, didn't understand something, or want something looked at more closely, let me know. I can't promise I'll act on every review, comment, criticism, suggestion, piece of advice, etc..., but I know I'd benefit from seeing them all.  
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	2. Chapter 2: The Hunt Begins

_**Disclaimer: Neither Ranma 1/2 nor any characters pertaining to that series are my property. Even Original Characters in this story are not my property as I can't be asked to protect them, and each and every last one will be relegated to a bit role.**_

**Author's Note: ****Many thanks for the reviews I have already received. It was valuable encouragement to keep plugging away at this story. Keep at me, and I assure you I'll keep at it. I apologize for not responding to any reviews specifically, especially the exceedingly helpful ones. Your assistance has been noted and I will be incorporating what advice I can into the ongoing narrative.****  
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**A Prince's Duty - Chapter 2: The Hunt Begins**

The evening's meal had been followed by some surprising conversation with the crew. These people had such fantastic stories of things that bordered on the unbelievable. They'd laughed at his obvious shock at their descriptions of _entirely not magical_ boxes that showed moving images of things that both had and had never happened. They'd been stupefied when _he'd_ asked where all the oarsmen were hidden, before telling him that there simply weren't any and exactly how it was that the ship was moving. These people lived and, sometimes, _worked_ beside women every day; they'd even told him one was working on this very ship. Lime had gone completely bug-eyed at that, stammering incoherently and letting Mint's own shock pass largely undetected.

That had prompted many questions from the crew about the Musk way of life, which he and Lime had described in as much detail as they could. Were it not for the evidence of their inhuman ears and Lime's eyes, the origin of the Musk Dynasty would certainly have been passed off as a legend. Explaining the lifetime of pure martial arts training every Musk warrior had to endure had required a demonstration, which for the sake of the ship Mint himself had offered to perform. Even Lime's softer katas would have left some very expensive dents in the floor. The demonstration's results were more than a little off-putting. None of these men were trained martial artists; no man among them was really following his movements, and afterwards they grew more silent. Not long after, Lime had taken his leave, and Mint had excused the both of them as he retreated along with the larger warrior.

Catching up with his friend, and co-guardian of crown prince Herb, Mint grabbed at the man's shirt to slow him down and get his attention. Lime tensed briefly, then slackened his pace.

"Something's wrong with the Prince, Mint. I think saying all those things was a mistake. Herb is being secretive, and I don't know why. Shouldn't we be, too?" Lime was wearing a serious expression, concern and tightness clear everywhere on his face. He _smelled_ more worried still.

Letting out a long sigh, Mint addressed his friend's concerns. "I'm worried about Herb, too. Let's get to our room before we keep talking. I don't see the sense in keeping our people secret and hidden, but what's going on with the prince certainly has to be. He won't even tell us." This wouldn't be the first time since this journey started that the two had had to talk about this, but it always helped the larger man calm down for a bit.

No sooner had they closed themselves into the room they shared than Lime turned to Mint and glared, hissing out his concerns once more. "The prince won't talk to us, he can't stand to be near us, he flinches away from me every time I touch him, he's had that weird throat or chest sickness for a while, and I think it's worse. He's hiding things, like where he got that wound two weeks back."

"This is going in circles, Lime. We did this already and it didn't solve anything. What do _you_ think we can do? Confront him directly? The last time we told him we knew something was wrong he got furious at us. When you pressed him, he blew a ki ball up in your face." Mint was getting angry, with himself, with Lime, and to his shame with his prince. "We lost half a night's sleep suturing up all the cuts that left in your chest. You aren't pressing him again!" The last was nearly a yell.

Lime had flinched at the reminder of the first time they'd seen such an uncontrolled ki attack. Softly, he pressed on anyhow. "We hafta do something. He's our prince. What if he's dying?"

Mint stumbled over his response to the newly voiced fear, trying his level best not to think too much on it himself. "We-well... M-m-maybe... He d-doesn't want us to worry? And we're going to Japan to find a cure to whatever sickness he's picked up. I'll bet that's why he had us bring all those scrolls about lost Musk artifacts." The idea that they might lose the prince was not one Mint was enjoying contemplating. The death of the only eligible heir to the Musk Dynasty, his friend, on his watch was so many times over a worst case scenario that it would surely haunt his dreams that night. And Lime..." How long have you been worried about that?"

The larger man winced, before holding up some hands and counting out on his fingers. "About, uh, thirteen days. When you told me that there was something really wrong with the blood from that wound Herb got. I got scared it might be a disease, or something. I wouldn't have thought nothing much of it, he's the strongest of us! But with the way he's been acting and all..." Lime trailed off.

Mint was now biting his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. _'Why didn't I even consider it? Oh, poor Lime, he must be going crazy by now.' _Shaking himself, and taking a steadying breath, the smaller Musk warrior put a hand on his larger friend's shoulder. Forcing a smile to his face so as to comfort the man, Mint described a plan to help their prince, even if they didn't know, or wouldn't learn, what was the matter. He hoped he could convince himself it had helped later, as well.

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Herb was having a remarkably good morning. While getting to sleep had taken some doing, after she got there it was blessedly undisturbed. The soft pillows and mattress had also helped keep her waking earlier than she did. Deciding to 'sleep in' for a time, Herb pulled a well worn booklet from her pack.

The booklet cover read, 'JTGSRS: Volume 3', and otherwise was plain white. The inside cover was a fair bit more informative, describing itself as Volume 3 in the Jusenkyo Training Ground Supplemental Reading Series, subtitled 'So You're Suddenly a Woman'. Shaking her head, Herb wondered when exactly the Guide had scaled up the cursed training ground's operations to such an extent, and whether the Musk might be able to hire whomever had assisted him. The little 51 page booklet had cost almost 600 Yuan, and after reading the collection of testimonials, helpful hints, and illustrated medical guides, Herb was feeling very sorry for curse victims who either lacked the money to purchase it, or couldn't read Chinese characters.

Despite that over half of the booklet's text was currently useless to the Musk prince, specifically the parts related to the _change_ itself, she was long since sold on the idea of offering her services as a translator. What had been relevant to her had helped her make sense of all the surprises her new body had been waiting to throw at her. She doubted any text would have helped her to not be surprised at all. Right at that moment, Herb was lounging in bed, entertaining herself by reading about the troubles she'd face once her form was no longer locked. Living so as to minimize the curse's chance of attracting water was an art all its own, one with many practitioners but as of yet no known masters.

Herb's reading was interrupted by a banging at the door. Glad for the door's sturdy lock, she shoved the booklet back where she retrieved it from, rose from bed, and threw on her cloak. Consulting the mirror to be sure she was wearing everything right, Herb left the would-be visitor knocking at the door a few moments longer before answering it.

The prince's companions were standing before her, grinning widely in greeting. The behaviour was exceedingly suspicious, but Herb was left with little time to think on it with the way the smaller warrior burst into the room talking animatedly, a distraction sufficient for the larger of the two to slip in as well.

Herb closed the door after Lime, then took a seat in a chair to listen to the story the two had felt was so important they had to barge into her room in defiance of proper decorum. "Start over." Order given, the heir to the Musk Dynasty simply waited on obeisance.

"A woman!" Yelled Lime, eliciting a strangling noise from the prince, even as she shot to her feet.

"N-Nonsense, I'm..."

Herb's grasping response was cut off by Mint. "It's true, prince Herb. It's true! We saw with our own eyes."

Said prince's mind was racing, panic-stricken and fumbling for some understanding of what had transpired to give away her secret, some way to keep her companions from revealing it before the Kaisuifuu was in sight. _'To have it revealed already,' _Herb thought, mounting embarassment adding itself to the other emotions storming her rational mind. _'if father hears about this, if someone _records_ this in any records, if someone comes to find me before...I'll be the laughingstock of the entire Musk Dynasty. Any future generations will use me as an example of folly and shortsightedness. How will anyone respect my rule with this hanging over me?'_

Still reeling from the devastating revelation, Herb started thinking of damage control. "Is anyone else aware? How, and when did you find out?"

"Oh, yeah, the entire crew knew all along. They told us as we were having our meals last night, but we didn't really believe them until we saw for ourselves earlier this morning." The smaller warrior was continuing, perfectly oblivious to Herb's peaking distress.

"Everyone? Every member of the crew knows? But _how_ can that be?" By this point, the transformed prince's eyes had widened to the size of dinner-plates. _'I was so sure. I did everything I could to hide. Is it so terribly obvious what I've become, that even a few brief glimpses gave me away?'_

Lime was laughing, _laughing_ at this. "Yeah, it's funny. They said that only Musk would have been as surprised as us. I felt kinda stupid, but they weren't mean about it or..." The large warrior stopped what he was doing when he saw Herb's aura rising up around her, crackling with unrestrained fury. "err...You OK, prince?"

It would have taken a very strange definition of OK to allow that the heir to the Musk Dynasty could be described thus at that moment. Her arms were twitching rapidly, and from each of her hands rose a growing sphere of radiant power." I will not be mocked by one my servants, I will not stand for it! Do you not grasp how grave a matter this is? Are you fool enough not to realize the terrible repercussions this will have on the Musk Dynasty?" All traces of confusion had been wiped from her voice, to be replaced with unalloyed indignation.

They were backing away from her now. The larger of the two was crab-walking toward the safety of the bathroom, the smaller frantically searching for any other cover the room presented. _'Good,'_ thought she, _'even if they've forgotten respect, they still know fear.'_

"Well, now. There's no use in deception, anymore. So what half-baked plans have you fools put together?" Still holding the destructive balls of ki, Herb advanced on Mint's position, whipping her head free of her cloak's cowl and sneering at the young Wolf clan member through the heat shimmer growing in the air between them, while training one of her hands on the still retreating Lime. The panic and confusion on their faces was almost recompense for the trouble this was causing her. _'Confusion?'_

It was Mint that managed to speak up, looking for all the world like a man facing down a true Dragon. "I-It's not like that at all, prince Herb. We were just caught by surprise by her. We just thought it was very funny the way she was as astounded by our reaction as we were by her _presence_. We only just realized the cook was a woman when we went to tell her the food wasn't doing us any good. We weren't hiding it from you, I promise. If you want to meet her, I'm sure she'll be less busy again in a few hours."

A moment passed in perfect silence, to be broken by Lime slamming the bathroom door closed and releasing a very relieved sigh. As though it had been a signal, the ki balls Herb had been readying to hurl at her disrespectful subordinates vanished and she turned to face away from them. She set about readjusting her cowl, and snorted in derision. "Well, you both should learn to speak more directly. Beating around the bush and disguising your intentions will only bring sharp reprimands from your betters. You are fortunate I am not a cruel or violent man. Depart my chambers immediately while I finish dressing!"

Order given, the prince's companions dashed out of the room, bowing and apologizing as they went. Herb slammed the door shut on their heels, and sagged to her knees, releasing all the tension she'd been building up speaking to the two of them. She had no idea how long she'd been there when awareness returned to her, but she found herself letting out a very feminine laugh, tears streaming from her eyes. After rinsing her face, the Musk prince managed to bring her laugh down to a chuckle. By the time she'd finished donning her armour, she'd managed to cut that down to nothing more than a manic grin. _'I think I'll need to repay those two for this somehow. It will just have to wait until after we land.'_

Herb had been out of bed for less than five minutes and already she was tempted to crawl back in. Instead, she left her room behind and resolved to lay every discomfort, indignity, and insult this day might bring at the feet of her two companions. If the day so far was any indication, the two would be having a much worse day than Herb on their arrival in Japan.

* * *

Lime was reflecting on how good it was not to be killed a few hours ago. The sun was high in the sky and shining down on the cargo ship's deck, letting the very lightly worked Musk warrior lounge in relative comfort. As it had been explained to him, most of his help would only be needed with loading and offloading the ship's cargo. With how easy the loading had been once he'd convinced the crew he could work better without the crane, even that last part of his duty didn't seem like it would be any real trouble. He occasionally caught a glimpse of Mint mopping, sweeping, scrubbing, or sanitizing something. He tried not to feel too guilty about how relaxed he was, by comparison.

Yes, the afternoon was shaping up to be near perfect for Lime, because the morning had brought such relief. Herb had stopped being so distant. The prince had even gotten furious at the two guards and threatened to destroy them again. Even if his voice was still off, it was clear Herb was feeling much better. With the sure knowledge that his future ruler was already on the mend, that the afternoon held no responsibility but to lounge in the sun, and that he would be well fed for doing just that, it seemed impossible to Lime that anything might go wrong. Of course, he'd heard rumours that saying things like that very nearly summoned trouble, but surely thinking them was allowed.

Prince Herb had recently come above deck, and was practising some elegant ground katas that required little movement on his part. Whatever wound his master had picked up earlier didn't look to be impairing him in the least now. Even so, if they were still on their way to Japan, could it be that there was something other than the prince's illness prompting them to travel so far from home? Thinking earlier on Herb's extreme reactions to the subject of women, Lime resolved to ask whether this was about finding an appropriate wife. _'Maybe there'll be one for me, too. I'm almost of age!'_

With Lime drifting off into daydreams about what he might do with a woman if he had one, it was some time before he really paid attention to the middle-aged gentleman that had interrupted the prince's training. He caught the man pointing at him. Scrutinizing the older man carefully, the large Musk warrior eventually identified him as the doctor Mint had convinced him to tell about Herb last night. Lime's elation at his successful application of memory was quickly cut off when a pair of slitted, crimson eyes bore into him from beneath Herb's hood, before the prince turned and followed the doctor somewhere. There was a promise in that look, one that left the Tiger clansman wondering whether he might not be better off swimming the rest of the way to Japan. He'd bring the idea up with Mint. His friend would probably be able to guess how murderous their charge was right at that moment. He had a good nose like that.

* * *

"I assure you, doctor Chén, I am in peak physical condition. Your concern for passengers aboard this ship is commendable, but unnecessary in my case." Herb had been saying much the same thing the entire way to the doctor's office aboard the ship. The man had been adamant on giving her a check-up, however, and she was quickly running out of non-violent solutions to this intrusion of her privacy, short of outright telling him she would not go along with it. The violent solutions were largely inaccessible given the man's status. Despite his strange, foreign attire and lidded cap with a Korean joke written out on it, the man remained a doctor. Being as he was a keeper of rarefied knowledge and the arts of life and health, it was unthinkable to bring real harm down on him. It was merely _unseemly_ to flat-out refuse his assistance.

The doctor was shaking his head, and making his own variation of his stock response in this farce of a conversation. "Oh, it's no trouble at all, prince Herb. It would be beyond unethical for me simply to ignore the possibility of some lasting harm from your recent illness or injuries. Given the descriptions your men gave, it would be dereliction of my duty. I must insist on ascertaining your condition."

"Come to think of it," doctor Chén's voice indicated he was considering something internally while he continued the question. "Why is it that you're so reluctant over a simple check-up? You say you're fine, and if that's true I cannot see this taking very long. Certainly those invisible foes I saw you battering won't be going too far with the injuries they've received." The man was laughing, now, a carefully considered move in order to throw Herb off balance.

While the doctor was not even a fraction as good as the transformed prince's father, she knew that she'd lose to him, as well, if she let things continue as they were. It was very disconcerting to discover that the field of human interaction at large was her most glaring weak point. She would improve that, somehow. Failing to do so would bring untold shame on the Musk one day, and of that she had no doubt.

She contented herself with walking in silence until they had reached the doctor's office in order to collect her thoughts. It had all the hallmarks of the smaller modern facilities she'd seen in recent months, and the typical lack of useful, traditional medicinal supplies. Herb was relieved to have definitive proof that the doctor was not a credible threat.

While the doctor busied himself getting _sanitized_, Herb stood remained standing by the door and watched. The ritual complete, the man turned his attention back to his would-be patient. "Alright, young man, if you could take off your cloak and have a seat on this table," doctor Chén indicated by banging on it with his hand, "we can begin."

Shaking her head, and crossing her arms before her, the prince of the Musk clarified her stance for the doctor's benefit. "We won't be beginning anything, doctor. I will be explaining my condition in the most general terms, and then I will be leaving with your blessing. If by some miracle you contact a member of my family, the only information you will give them is that based on your limited observation I had no obvious injuries or sicknesses."

The doctor looked ready to protest again, so Herb harnessed her anger and raised her voice over his. "As I was saying, I am in perfect physical health at this moment in time. There is nothing wrong with my voice other than that it has suffered strain, and nothing at all wrong with my throat or chest beyond that strain."

The man seemed to have loosened up, and was now sitting in his chair analyzing the words herb spoke. She knew this was dangerous, too, but far less so than an actual physical examination. "You see, doctor, I am suffering from a condition that is neither contagious nor truly harmful in any way, merely uncomfortable. I am aware of how to resolve it, and am currently on my way to do just that. It is something you are entirely unable to assist with, and the only thing you might do would bring harm all its own, and inconvenience me greatly besides."

"You're being very stubborn about this, young man." The doctor had pounced on a break in the flow of information with hunger. It was obvious he wanted much more than had been given. "Surely you can't brush off an injury that kept reopening over the course of your travels as a triviality."

Herb clicked her tongue at that. A harder explanation, that, one which would risk exposure. She'd start off like her father. Destroy the enemy's balance, and even a flawed strike could prove decisive. "You do not address me with my title and the respect which is my due, doctor Chén. That will be corrected immediately or our discussion will be at a quite permanent end." Without waiting for the man to respond, the prince carried on. "Any bleeding has long since ended; it has been over a week and despite rigorous exercises it has not started up again. It was not a trivial matter at the time, I must admit, but it is now. As a descendant of Dragons, I can sustain that much quite easily."

The heir to the Musk Dynasty was quite pleased with herself. She had taken control of the situation. Never mind he was a man with no real power or hold over her, she had kept the doctor off-balance rather than the other way around. This was clearly a form of combat she couldn't afford not to master. At least she could say she wasn't completely defenceless after this performance.

"Erm. Yes. That's good to hear," the doctor stammered in an effort to regain some control of the situation, "but the man...Mint, yes, Mint. Mint said that you had been behaving strangely, recently. He said that you were unusually withdrawn and distracted. Sudden personality changes can indicate..."

"Sudden personality changes can have innumerable causes. Mine bears only the smallest relation to the condition I will be telling you no more about. There is a threat to the prosperity and welfare of my people that I need to address, and soon. Thinking on it has left me more somber than usual. This, too, is a matter too private and delicate to entrust with a stranger; I don't suppose you will be comforted by it, but understand that this is another situation you are powerless to assist with. That is all I care to tell you. Did you have any other questions?" When the doctor had said that yes, he _did_ have more questions, Herb had demanded a glass of water before tackling them, all the while thinking on the problem at the heart of all the others.

* * *

He stood out in stark contrast with the other patients in the clinic. There were whispers and stares from all directions. Some people had even pointed strange devices at him. Unsure of what those might have been, prince Herb had regally ignored them. No man...or woman...here was a credible threat to him, and no toy they might wield could reasonably harm him.

The journey to this place had been mortifying the first time. He had never seen a woman in person before leaving the training temples, but here, in the city of Beijing, they were very nearly everywhere. That time, too, he had been picked out and stared at, even as he had struggled not to gawk at the stupefying sights and sounds of the city. He had a mission, and would not be deterred in its fulfilment. Today, that would be achieved. Weeks of testing and trials, conferences with doctors and shaming procedures culminated today. But for the shield of his dignity, he had no doubt he would be a nervous wreck.

More time passed, and more people looked in wonder at him. Some younger men and women came up and asked for an autograph, and to know which 'band' he was a part of. He'd shooed them away as he had all the others. He had no idea what they were about, but they had obviously wanted something of him, and knowledge of his affiliation as well. Depending on the results he was given today, he wasn't so certain he was comfortable with people having seen his face, let alone knowing of his people. An ancient and properly priceless relic had bought the discretion and assistance of the clinic's staff, there was no reason to jeopardize it any more than necessary himself.

After what felt like an eternity, a bored, bespectacled man with a thinning head of hair called him over into a private office. Once he had been seated, and interminable pleasantries had been exchanged, the man pulled out a sheaf of documents, and laid them on the table.

"These are the results of all our tests over the last few weeks. While they are not without possible error, assuming our trials have not been identically tampered with on several separate occasions, the results are conclusive." The man had been paid for brutal honesty, and Herb would accept no less. "Bypassing the technicalities and getting to the heart of the issue... You are not sterile, per se. You have an extraordinary sperm count. The problem lies in that none of that is Human sperm. Yours is a very unique condition. I would say a first ever recorded, but it seems that this is destined not to be recorded either. Hmm. So while it could be theorized that you are fertile...we couldn't hazard a guess as to who, or what with. I am deeply sorry."

* * *

A long series of deflections and unhelpful answers later saw Herb leaving the doctor's office, throat terribly raw from masking its high pitch. She added that pain and discomfort to the karmic debt Lime and Mint were rapidly accruing. The prince of the Musk Dynasty decided it was a measure of her benevolence that she would gladly help the two fools pay off that very debt.

The remainder of the trip passed in relative peace and quiet. At the Tokyo docks, Herb and Mint effortlessly evaded detection and set up near the shore to wait for Lime to finish unloading and rejoin them. The inhumanly strong martial artist was receiving disbelieving stares as he offloaded container after container, by hand, without pause. There was obviously strain in this activity, but that only made it better training. His style, focused on power as it was, could only benefit from a bit more muscle mass and durability.

The better part of three hours after unloading had begun, Lime had said his goodbyes to the crew and met with his smaller companions. Massaging some abused muscles, he asked the most pertinent question to their situation. "So what do we do now, prince Herb?"

"Now we travel to a restaurant in the Nerima Ward known as the Nekohanten. There, we will find the Joketsuzoku elder Ku Lon." Not wanting to tax her voice any further, Herb silenced the warriors and rose. She motioned for Lime to grab the immense backpack containing most of the group's supplies before they started on their way. Having learned her lesson about letting the two warriors have free reign back in Shanghai, the prince of the Musk Dynasty led her two companions by the hand, while letting the smaller of the two ask directions of men they passed by. The two got just insufferable around women. The travel arrangements made her uncomfortable, but there was no helping it if they all wanted to stick together.

* * *

**Closing Author's Note:**** There we are. I hope the parts that were supposed to be funny actually come across as funny, and that everything both makes sense and is coherent. I also hope that you enjoyed this chapter. This is probably the length I'll be aiming to make most of them, unless my writing style takes a turn for the far more descriptive.**

**Lay on the reviews, I absolutely need your help.**


	3. Chapter 3: Girls Everywhere

_**Disclaimer: I own no part of Ranma 1/2, nor am I responsible for any of its creative content. That's other people.**_

* * *

**A Prince's Duty - Chapter 3: Girls Everywhere**

"She's a shrivelled up prune old enough to recall when some of those mountains were merely hills. You can't miss her."

Herb had been sceptical of the amazon hag's description of her fellow elder. The amazon elders were known for their extended lifespans, often far exceeding the point where the human body should simply have ceased to function. The woman who had told Herb of her was already a twisted thing of sagging flesh, trapped in a perpetually stooped posture. It had never occurred to the Musk prince that the woman she'd come in search of could actually have been older still. Calling beforehand as the other elders of the Joketsuzoku had suggested was proving to have been an excellent idea, as it gave Herb time to observe her host in silence while sipping the tea that had been prepared for her.

The _creature_ standing near the centre of the small circular table could not have reached the Musk prince's knees had they both been standing on the ground. Unnaturally large eyes were staring out of a face which appeared to be sliding off the skull behind it. From her head sprouted a mane of grey hair held in place by a simple band. The ancient's shrivelled hands folded around a long staff that Herb had seen her hopping around on, and the rest of her body was mercifully concealed by fine, if obviously old, green robes embroidered with various symbols. Herb shook her head slowly beneath her cowl. The creature was the elder Ku Lon. _'And despite her ridiculous form, this woman is a wellspring of knowledge both martial and mystic, a font of energy, and more powerfully alive than nearly everyone I've met. Why would the amazons send such a hideous treasure so far from their home?'_

"The Musk Dynasty... I thought you'd vanished from the world ages ago." The elder spoke to herself as much as to Herb. "It seems there were survivors."

Herb waited patiently for the old woman to continue to the purpose of their meeting, not wanting to reveal more of her hand than she had to. Appearing too eager for the elder's information on the location of the kettle would worsen any offer that might be made. Still, she needed Ku Lon to hurry up; the prince was sure her companions would be back from the walk she'd sent them on before long. The pair would almost certainly do something to disrupt her dignity, and she could little afford that when dealing with the ancient before her.

An eternity passed with the two women eyeing one-another up and down. Herb's shadowed face could reveal nothing, and the elder's barely human mask dashed any hope of reading her. Taking another page from her father, the prince picked up the teacup brought for her, raised it to her face, slowly took in its aroma, then took a short sip from it. When she replaced it on the table, the sound it made was magnified by the earlier silence, despite that the liquid within was barely disturbed. As if on cue, noise returned to the both of them. Herb was somewhat disappointed that the elder's initial reaction was merely to chuckle.

Ku Lon's mirth relented, and when she spoke her voice carried only assurance. "Then, Herb of the Musk Dynasty, I will share with you the history of the Open Water Kettle, the _kaisuifuu_, from the point where your people lost it. In return, your finest historian will share with our elders the history of your people since we lost track of you.

"These, my terms, are the only ones you'll receive, prince of the Musk. Do you accept them?"

Herb rose from her seat and inclined her head visibly by way of answer, to which the elder gave a sharp nod before leaning over the scroll she'd placed on the table earlier, reading it aloud.

The Kaisuifuu had had many masters since the time it left Musk hands, it would appear. Initially, the magic kettle changed hands rapidly, over two dozen times in that first century. Its location had been lost at that point, although hints of its presence had resurfaced across China and eventually Korea. It seemed the kettle's probable location had only been revealed recently by Ku Lon's own research. The relic had last been heard of some few prefectures away on a mount Horai.

"Thank you Elder Ku Lon," Herb said, "now if you will bring me pen, ink, and paper I shall uphold my end of the bargain." She could feel a smile breaking through her own mask at how close she was to having her own body back. With this news come so easily, she would have ample time to pursue her original goal after the kettle was hers. _'Only a few more days left to this wretched experience. Perhaps I won't be so hard on Lime and Mint for the doctor.'_

* * *

When Herb had told both he and Mint to take a walk, Lime had been more than willing to go along with it. He hadn't really liked the look of the giant mouldy raisin the prince was talking to anyway. After a few days cooped up on a ship, the large man wanted nothing more than to stretch his legs and see the sights of Japan. The sights rapidly boiled down to one particular sight: pretty young women. It seemed to him they must be everywhere, and without Herb to drag him around Lime was free to see and speak to any he wanted.

This wasn't helping the huge warrior terribly much. The last time, when he'd spoken to the chef, she had been both not young and not particularly pretty. Even then, he'd relied heavily on Mint to carry the conversation. Now he found himself cowering in a walled park, not from the terrible wrath of his master Herb, but from the streams of perfectly ordinary girls travelling down the streets. Berating himself for his cowardice, and Mint for running off on his own sooner than Lime had, the hulking Musk warrior tried to come up with a new plan.

_'Alright. I came to find a pretty girl to spend time with, but it's not like I have a use for more than one. I'll just wait for exactly one to be passing by, and then it won't be as bad talking to her as it is large groups. Yeah! And Mint thinks he's the smart one. Hmm...She should be a martial artist, too. Herb wouldn't approve of me spending time with weak girls. Maybe if she's really pretty I can arrange to make her my bride. I'll bet the prince wouldn't mind.' _Lime's focused thoughts helped him get over the panic that had gripped him.

All he had to do, he reasoned, was wait by the wall, periodically scanning for a single young woman to be passing by on her own, like that one wearing the impractical blue-green uniform that had just turned the corner up the street. A lot of the women had been wearing something similar. Still, he'd have to wait for a martial artist of some kind of skill. Like that girl he'd just noticed, who moved with a fair amount of grace, and was carrying a weird black case. It didn't look like much of a weapon, but its discolourations and deformations implied it had to have been used as one. Still, he didn't want to appear out of nowhere, that wouldn't do and might even get the girl in the mood for a fight instead of a meeting. He'd just have to wait for a girl to run by the park entrance he'd been standing by just like the young martial artist with the short bluish-black hair and strange weapon had done a second ago.

Lime surged into motion, leaping backward and ploughing through the stone wall ahead of where the woman had been running. _'She stopped running,'_ the large man congratulated himself, _'now to get her to come with me.'_ The woman was looking at him strangely, so he began to pool all the conversational skills he'd acquired for this one, noble goal.

Concentrating intensely on exactly what he needed to do, Lime grit his teeth and stared hard at the woman. He had to make sure to get nothing wrong. "You're a woman, right?"

"What else could I be?" The girl was frowning, and looked tense.

Lime stood taller, pushing aside some rubble with his feet and raising his shaking fists to his chest. An eager grin made its way onto his face. "And a martial artist, too?"

"Y-Yeah. Why are you asking?" The girl had retreated a step, perspiration trickling down her face.

Lime let loose a triumphant whoop, raising a clawed fist to the sky. His smile split his face in two. "This is perfect, exactly the way I planned. Now I can ask her, _you_ to come with me to the restaurant!"

He'd only started reaching for her arm when the sight of the pretty young woman momentarily vanished in an explosion of colours. He reached his hands to the back of his skull, which had developed a spontaneous ache. There was sound coming from behind him, but he couldn't make immediate sense of it. Turning around to look for the source of the noise, Lime saw a scowling black-haired man with a black-spotted tunic and black pants with yellow leg-bindings. His hair was kept out of his eyes by a cloth with the same pattern as his shirt, but with larger dots. In his hand was an umbrella that looked very like a club. There was no need to ask if this one was a martial artist.

"Keep your hands off Akane!" The new martial artist bellowed out the warning, baring very prominent fangs.

The huge Musk warrior cracked his knuckles and let loose a low, rumbling growl. He didn't have time to fight the man in front of him if he wanted to enjoy time with the woman. He'd have to defeat his opponent quickly. When the man leaped forward with a massive haymaker, Lime accepted the blow on the right shoulder, trading it for his own heavy gut-punch. He was surprised by how much the other fighter's blow hurt, and wondered whether he might be a distant relative of some sort. Lime promised himself to look into that later, but refocused on the fight. The man was doubled over, obviously unused to taking such blows, giving the bestial warrior the opportunity to latch onto the back of his foe's head and with a snarl embed him in the relatively soft concrete below. Seeing that the other fighter was at least temporarily incapacitated, Lime got back to his primary objective.

Slinging the shocked woman over his shoulder so she wouldn't have to walk, Lime started toward the Nekohanten, telling his newly acquired companion all about his other companions and how great it was to finally meet a pretty girl. From her vigorous motion, Lime was willing to guess this girl the downed fighter had called Akane was very interested in his story. _'Yeah, it's true. I've got style no woman can resist. Mint'll be so jealous. It'll show him to leave me all on my own.'_

* * *

Mint was feeling a little bad about leaving Lime behind, but the huge warrior would really have slowed him down. It wasn't that he didn't trust his friend with his life, that was never in doubt. It's just that he didn't trust the larger man not to say or do something more forceful, or aggressive, than the situation warranted. That the situation was picking up a pretty girl was still better reason to part from his companion for a time. _'Herb will probably be all day finding whatever he's looking for here. That's plenty of time to woo some woman into wanting to be my bride. Maybe I can even try that dating thing all the men on the ship talked about. It sounds fun.'_

Leaping atop one of the many fences traversing the area, the sun to his back, Mint spied his prize. She was a tall girl, wearing matching form-hugging shirt and pants of a sort he'd seen more frequently while travelling across China. Her hair was long and a vibrant shade of purple the likes of which he'd never seen. She looked like she was having an argument with a long-haired man before he'd appeared, casting his shadow across the pair.

"Who is there?" The girl asked of him, when she'd turned to find the source of the sudden shade. The man she'd been arguing with turned as well, though he never wound up looking quite the right way.

Steeling his nerves, Mint forced a confident grin onto his face, showing his teeth and looking directly at the woman. "I am Mint, of the Musk Dynasty. I am also a proud guardian of the crown prince of the Musk. Now I have to know the name of the most beautiful woman who has ever addressed me." Mint kept his hands clenched in fists, and down out of sight. They were shaking enough to give away his nervousness. He'd heard women liked compliments; he hoped beautiful was one she would like.

"Very young boy is a charmer. Be too too good if Ranma learn from him." The girl had turned slightly to the side to mumble out those words to herself, not suspecting how sharp Mint's hearing was. She turned back to him after another moment's hesitation. "It is Xian Pu."

From her name, dress, accent, and unusual mode of speech, Mint gathered that Xian Pu was likely Chinese. The still grinning warrior hopped down from the fence and stood before the violet-haired beauty before starting to speak again, this time in Mandarin. "Well, Xian Pu, I can only think of one greater pleasure than having met you. Will you come on a date with me?" With that, Mint extended his hand out toward the girl and waited. Inside, his excitement was reaching a boil. _'I said exactly what I wanted to say. It wasn't even hard. Oh, please just say yes!'_

Xian Pu blinked at this, giving him an unreadable expression while he stubbornly held onto his toothy grin.

The silent regard was broken when the man Xian Pu had been arguing with swatted Mint hard in the head, nearly doubling him over, while shouting, "Knock it off!"

Standing up straight, Mint glared at the man who'd struck him with cold intensity. "And who are you?" He intoned, hoping for a response that would let him honourably harm the aggressor.

"You're a hundred years too young to even try going after Xian Pu."

"Ahh, if you're planning to interfere, then..." Mint exploded into motion, leaping straight up then forward above the angry man using the wall at his back. He loosened a dozen knives from their bindings even as his arc took him overhead.

"Where!?" Exclaimed the tall, long-haired weakling that had challenged him, but he was too slow to even turn before the Musk warrior's landing.

The instant his feet brushed the ground Mint sprang forward, arms blurring and vanishing entirely as he hurled knife after knife in perfect, fluid motions. "Ro Ga Ryusei Dan!" The young warrior cried out the name of his technique, even as his shocked opponent was stapled to the stone wall the Musk warrior had kicked off of only a second ago. The knives had penetrated the cloth of Mint's startled foe's robes and the stone of the wall with equal ease, leaving his foe dazed and helpless.

Turning from the long-haired man, Mint redirected his attention to the much more pleasant Xian Pu. "So, about that date?"

At that, the girl smiled adorably, closing her eyes in the process. "Whoever you are, Mint of the Musk Dynasty, I have to reward you for making a mockery of Mu Tsu. It won't be a romantic date. I'm already promised to another more my age."

Slightly deflated, Mint scratched at his cheek, before nodding his head. "I'd still like that a lot. Come on! My prince showed me a really great place to eat. The scents from the kitchen will have me salivating for weeks."

After taking a moment to grab her bicycle, Xian Pu followed along while Mint chatted with what he hoped was well-disguised forced casualness. Their walk to the Nekohanten was pleasant, as he got to ask the girl many questions about herself and life here. Mint made a note to consult Herb about how one might go about breaking someone's engagement to an amazon, or at least how to switch such an engagement. _'At least, I think I'd like to hear her little laughs a _lot_ more often than this little date's going to let me.'_

With thoughts like these floating through his head, Mint nearly bumped into Lime before seeing him. Rather, he nearly got grabbed by the flailing arms of a panicking short-haired Japanese girl the huge warrior was carrying over his shoulder when they both turned onto the same street. _'Damn it!'_

"Err, hi Lime." He called out, hiding his inner despair that Xian Pu would be upset by the display.

The big warrior turned and stopped some story he'd been recounting before waving with his free hand to Mint. "Oh, hey." Brief greeting finished, Lime returned to his story.

Turning between his friend and his date, Mint looked terribly abashed. Before he could think up a lame excuse for Lime's behaviour, he noticed that Xian Pu was smiling even more broadly than before. He found himself giggling, and losing all his trains of thought for the rest of the trip. _'No wonder they're not at the training grounds. This woman's smile alone has made me a bumbling imbecile.'_

So distracted by Xian Pu's beauty and grace was he, that Mint never thought to question why the flailing Japanese girl kept crying out for the assistance of a hair care product he'd recently been exposed to. He also didn't notice that his date's most joyful laughter always coincided with these outbursts.

He was put out that the violet-haired beauty looked displeased with the restaurant they'd come to, but hoped she'd change her mind when they got inside. He couldn't wait to show her off to Herb.

* * *

Herb was already standing, having finished thanking the amazon elder and wanting to gather her companions quickly. She did not expect them to stride through the door to the Nekohanten. Less expected still were the flustered girl being held over Lime's left shoulder or the one standing beside Mint.

"I'm home, great-grandmother." The violet-haired girl by Mint called out in a bored voice. Herb almost missed the strange glances Mint was giving the girl for how upset the sight of Lime manhandling the other girl was making her. This also proved a useful distraction from contemplating how a creature such as elder Ku Lon came about having a great-grandchild.

"Are you even listening, let go of me!" The girl hanging over Lime's shoulder accentuated her demand by beating her fists futilely against his back. Herb briefly wondered if the mighty warrior was even aware of being struck so.

The two companions greeted Herb, then, before Lime explained the reason for their arrival. "Hey, now we can have tea and a decent meal with women, too. Isn't that exciting, prince Herb? Some guy I beat up called this one Akane."

Mint perked up at this and held out a hand to indicate the girl who'd entered with him. "Right, and this beautiful girl is Xian Pu. She agreed to a date with me! Can we stay here to eat with them?"

All this while the girl over Lime's shoulder kept on screaming at the huge man to let her down. Things had gone from the quiet, almost serene conversation with the amazon elder to the shrill cries of a girl struggling to free herself from Lime's implacable grip. Herb was beginning to develop a headache.

Gritting her teeth, the Musk prince glared daggers at her huge guardian and his wailing human baggage. "Drop the girl immediately. And girl, shut up!" This had the desired result of Lime letting go of the girl identified as Akane, although it was so sudden she wound up falling to the ground with an undignified grunt.

Far from stopping the noise and confusion, new voices joined into the chaos from the doorway. A young man with longer hair held out of his face by a bandana dressed all in yellow and black was speaking with concern and panic to the fallen girl; the man appeared slightly disoriented, but had the looks of a power-focused martial artist like Lime. One of the three who'd entered blessedly made no noise, merely moving into the room with surprise on his face, which was nearly obscured by ridiculously oversized glasses; the man appeared to be disguising the threat he posed, possibly between his voluminous robes and waist length hair. The third...

The third boy's hair was slightly shorter than the first's, and he wore an expression betraying a great anger as he looked between Herb and Lime. Even as he helped the girl, Akane, to her feet, he was speaking to the two of them, threatening them. _'This peasant is threatening my self and my vassal.'_ In the incessant pounding there was much lost from the peasant's words. He'd spoken of tomboys and gorillas and how they were somehow connected to the girl and her treatment. The look in his eyes, his precise martial stance, and his final words could not be mistaken, however.

"Ya really shouldn't a' done that." The blink of an eye would have rendered the boy's rush at Lime unseen. "Now I'm gonna drop ya on _your_ ass!" He yelled, a fist driving in toward the comparatively stationary Lime's belly. The pigtailed martial artist's outstretched arm was instead drawn into a vice grip by Herb herself. Her crimson, reptilian eyes momentarily met his clear blue, before the prince smashed him into the rafters with a bone and ceiling-jarring uppercut. The boy landed gracelessly on his face from the blow.

Herb snorted in disdain, before turning back to the table she'd been seated at earlier. "My vassals do not have time to play with fools. We will eat and then depart." Her words were soaked with derision, in order to dissuade the over-matched fighter from trying to repeat his foolish stunt. She was too close to the kettle to be distracted by stupid challenges.

She was aware her opponent had risen almost immediately. She could sense his leap. The thing which gave her pause was the warning from the elder Ku Lon. "Wait, son in law! You mustn't attack that one!"

_'Son in law, is it?'_ The Musk prince thought as she leaned out of the way of the boy's lunging aerial punch, even as she hurled him back away from her with a series of lightning fast jabs, most of which were making glancing blows off of arms or legs that had curled up around his body. _'Where is the lucky amazon girl that lost to this one, then? The one with the purple hair or another?' _

The onlookers were startled and concerned by her speed, which raised some mirth in Herb. She was almost sad that her captive audience would only witness her most mundane techniques. One of the pigtailed boy's arms flung back from his body, even as her latest blow struck his chest firmly, Herb readied a last, ki-empowered strike to steal the breath from the fool's lungs completely.

"This is ended!" Cried the Musk prince. Her fist, however, found nothing but empty air. She barely had time to move her head out of the way of a shocking inverted axe kick from her opponent. She was certain he had used her strikes while he was airborne to get himself back in touch with the ground to gain leverage for just that blow. While her face was undamaged, the blow had glanced off her ribs and opened some of the buttons of the shirt she wore beneath her cloak. The commentators in the background were growing irritating.

_'He struck me?'_ "You struck me!" Disbelief within, fury without, Herb lashed out with a vicious kick. Her foe tucked into a ball and rolled with the blow, but had a hand on her cloak in the process. The momentum of the blow itself stripped the cloak from her body, and she stood quite revealed before all the occupants of the Nekohanten.

Face red with embarrassment and shame Herb took advantage of the boy's momentary disbelief to re-button and secure her shirt before she slipped out. _'These peasants will not be receiving a free show from Herb, prince of the Musk.'_

Fixing her eyes on the martial artist who'd humiliated her so, tuning out the numerous exclamations of surprise from the audience, as well as the looks of incomprehension directed her way from Lime and Mint, Herb advanced. No longer even trying to disguise her voice, she let her anger boil over at the pigtailed boy alone. "You have no luck, peasant. I'm going to hurt you badly for this indignity."

Threat made, Herb flared her Ki about her, a thing of unbridled aggression and destructive anger. An easy refinement of the aura hurled a bolt from her hand up at her foe, sending him skyward and into her power despite his defences. Those defences were designed to ward off physical blows, not bursts of energy.

Launching herself over her foe, she prepared to perform an attack she hadn't practised since the curse. Were her ki not burning from the events of the battle thus far she would have hesitated to try it even now. _'If I can end this fight quickly, perhaps I might recover some of my pride.'_ Knowing that to be more important than limiting property damage, Herb began a most familiar manipulation of ki using an unfamiliar ki system. "Secret technique: Dragon Spirit Flight!" Somehow, calling out the name of her strike also seemed to facilitate the manoeuvre.

As she followed a burning trail of ki through the air, the released balls of energy rebounded from the earth and smashed into the body of her foe simultaneously, neither exploding like her first shaky ki blasts had upon acquiring her cursed form. On the ground once more, Herb noted with satisfaction that her opponent had been almost completely neutralized by the attack. Despite all of his aerial guards, despite his remarkable acrobatic prowess, despite his almost equivalent speed, the boy had had no way to match or predict the brilliantly disguised attack.

The dazed martial artist's uncontrolled landing toppled a bucket by one of the walls. Something had changed...The boy's hair was red. He was noticeably smaller. He had breasts, at all. As quickly as it arrived, despite all the excellent reasons for it, Herb found her rage had vanished.

Her now female opponent was struggling to her knees, obviously too rattled to keep fighting, but unwilling to lie down and concede defeat. She groaned, then cursed as she raised her eyes to lock with Herb's own. The Musk prince held back how impressed she was by that act; few possessed the will to lock eyes with a Dragon.

Lime and Mint were staring in wonderment. The prince heard the smaller warrior whisper, "and now he's a woman, too."

Unable to help herself any longer, Herb broke out laughing. It was a full-bodied laughter that drew tears from her eyes. Everyone in the room barring her retainers was staring at her like she'd gone mad, but she kept on laughing.

"What's so funny, huh?" The redheaded martial artist gasped out, anger and humiliation alone keeping her from a much-needed rest.

Straightening herself as best she could, wiping tears from her eyes, and still shaking, Herb managed to speak between chuckles. "You...You are much less...Absurd...than I was led...To believe. That. That is what is so funny."

At this point, even Lime and Mint were looking at the Musk Prince as though she'd lost her mind. _'Damn them anyway, what were the odds?'_ Shaking her head at the depredations of fate, and perhaps the unwholesome sense of humour belonging to Jusenkyo itself, Herb collected herself fully before addressing her flagging opponent once more.

"You will join Lime, Mint, Akane, Xian Pu, and myself for lunch before we head off. That was the most fun I have had in months, never mind the impropriety of it all." That the statement was true helped Herb to conceal her other thoughts. The secret was revealed. She was a woman and none with eyes to see could deny the fact. What she could do, what she _had_ to do, was to make it seem normal.

Not for the first time on this journey, and certainly not for the last, Herb, crown prince of the Musk Dynasty, thanked her distant father for all the frustrating conversations they had had together.

* * *

**Author's Note: Of all chapters in the story, this one is going to be the closest to the original manga. I'm not entirely happy about that part, but I really wanted to start things off similarly. As you'll have seen over the course of the chapter, things will not be _staying_ similar to the manga. That was a big part of the delay in this one. See you next time, for a very different journey to mount Horai.**

**Especially Relevant Review Topic: Most of all, I would dearly love to hear what people thought of the descriptions of action in this chapter. It's something I have very limited experience with, and want to improve desperately. A lot of this action is a port of the events of the Ranma 1/2 manga, so you'd be well within reason to use that as a tool for analyzing the effectiveness of my descriptions if you so wished. As always, brutally honest is best.**


	4. Chapter 4: Chaos at the Cat Cafe

**_Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and all its characters belong exclusively to a select group of people (some of whom are corporations) who aren't me_**

* * *

**A Prince's Duty - Chapter 4: Chaos at the Cat Cafe**

The assembled patrons had initially been reluctant to join the Musk for a meal. The reasons were all perfectly understandable. The boy-turned-girl had passed out after declaring her duel unfinished. This had prompted them all to fuss over her condition, or at least observe the damage done by Herb. Ku Lon was the first to finish her inspection, followed rapidly by the two boys that had walked in with the now unconscious girl. The girls Lime and Mint had brought continued to watch over her.

The bespectacled youth made his way straight to the table Herb had seated herself at, eyeing her warily, but with obvious respect. The other one had behaved strangely. At first he'd looked up and down the length of one of the restaurant's walls for a time, before walking along it toward the entrance to the building. He'd peeked outside, before turning around and making his way to Herb's table. She tried to work out a reason for his odd behaviour. _'Has he sensed something? Are we being spied on?'_ She hadn't noticed anyone, and supposed the young man hadn't either as he was looking more hopeful and excited than suspicious when he took his own seat.

Under ordinary circumstances, two uninvited guests seating themselves beside her would have had Herb compelling them to leave. At the moment, though, with the women in the room ignoring her and her own bodyguards doing a fair imitation of statues while looking at her with wide eyes and open mouths, she was enough out of her element to accept their company. They didn't appear to be leering at her the way Lime and Mint had at the many women they'd passed when traversing China, and that was at least one point in their favour. They were also far better subjects to rest her eyes on than the hideous amazon elder.

The bandana-clad boy broke the silence, then. His excited speech revealed some remarkably prominent fangs. "That was unbelievable. You beat Ranma like it was nothing. Who are you people?"

"Indeed, Saotome was helpless before you." The robed man said, far more coolly. He adjusted his glasses for a moment before continuing. "I have wanted to defeat him for a long time. How did you do that?"

"Yes! You, and the guy in the tiger pelt are insanely strong. Inhuman, even." The tone of wonder from the shorter haired boy was disarming.

The praise and open admiration were doing wonders for Herb's pride. That two commoners complimenting her on something so obvious as her strength had such an impact spoke volumes about the damage her self-confidence had suffered from over a month spent as a woman. She didn't know what to think of this, but being happy should necessarily be a good thing. _'It's not as if they're trying to manipulate me, although my emotions are too strange right now.'_ After taking a moment to put that thought aside for later contemplation, Herb considered the situation in order to decide how best to respond.

She realized with a start that the fanged boy had grabbed one of her hands between his own. She hadn't even observed any hostile intent on his part, nor could she imagine when he'd done it. It seemed more than one person in this room had surprising skills. The sudden tingling sensation the confined appendage was causing was extremely unwelcome, though. Flustered, she began introductions in the best imperious tone her current form could muster. "You are in the presence of prince Herb, heir to the Musk Dynasty and descendant of Dragons.

"And you will release my hand if you wish to retain your own, peasant." The owner of the pair of hands in question snatched them away hurriedly at her threat. Herb's pleasure at cowing the boy was greatly diminished when she saw the flush in his cheeks; he was _embarrassed_ rather than frightened. She took her hand being free and the fading of the sensation that the contact had brought as blessing enough, for now.

_'For all that it's stressed in that Jusenkyo victims guidebook,' _thought the cursed prince, _'the reality of the situation is much worse than I could have imagined. I wonder how the boy I defeated has been handling it.'_

She cast a disappointed look at the statues of shock and confusion into which her guardians had been transformed, before introducing them with a wave of her recently freed hand. "The large man in the tiger pelt is Lime. The smaller one with the wolf-skin cap is Mint. They will both, no doubt, be recovering from the surprise of seeing me struck in combat presently. At the least, they will be able to take seats, close their jaws fully, and stop staring." The command in her words carried clearly, as both men walked woodenly to the table before following the remaining instructions. Rather than staring straight at her, they were gazing at their own hands. Seeing as they looked deep in thought, the Musk prince was disinclined to draw them out of it. If they spent time thinking, rather than acting, they would do nothing that was counter to her own objectives.

Allowing her attention to return to the two strange men seated beside her, Herb frowned. "I have names for all of the others, now I will have yours."

"Mu Tsu, of Joketsuzoku. The locals here just calls me Mousse." The nearsighted youth carefully adjusted his glasses with his introduction, but never took his eyes off Herb. He, at least, seemed not to have forgotten the threat she posed just because of a moment of levity.

In contrast, the boy with the black-spotted bandana was still blushing furiously and only furtively glancing in Herb's direction. His behaviour was starting to make her uncomfortable. "I'm, umm, Hi - Hibiki Ryoga, miss. S – Sorry for... Please accept my apology for my actions. I was just overjoyed at Ranma's defeat. By a _girl_ no less! I can't wait for the jerk to wake up to see the look on his face!." Herb couldn't help noting the shift in Ryoga's attitude, from embarrassed to triumphant as the boy spoke.

"Ya don't say, P-Chan?" The question rose from the pigtailed martial artist, as she picked herself up off the table amid protests from the women watching over her. Ryoga was struck in the face by a free-flying slipper when he turned to face the speaker.

The blow caused no visible harm but he surged out of his seat so suddenly the chair was sent hurtling against another table, scattering utensils and spilling condiments. "Ranma...," the boy growled, only to have Ku Lon interpose herself between the two would-be combatants. The aura of menace rolling off the shrivelled ancient and her glare combined to quell Ryoga's sudden rage.

When she spoke, only the elder's voice pretended to calm. "That's been quite enough fighting in my restaurant. Only one of you has any money to pay damages. Mousse, clean that table then take our guests' orders. All the rest of you take your seats and pretend to be civil for once. And son-in-law? Show due respect to prince Herb. She is a guest of mine and one you should endeavour not to upset ever again." The glare Ku Lon passed over the assembled non-Musk brooked no defiance.

Herb didn't mention that she hadn't invited the bandana-clad martial artist to eat, respecting that she could get much information about this Ranma from him. Despite her horrific appearance, the old woman was being remarkably considerate. It was a mark in her favour that would be remembered.

Both Ku Lon and Mousse left the table, the former to start equipment in the kitchen and the latter to clean up, replenish, and reset the table Ryoga had disturbed with the chair he'd flung. All the while, the bespectacled one was glaring daggers at the elder and Ranma, silent and hopeless rebellion flashing behind the thick glass. He sent the flung chair sliding gracefully across the floor to Ryoga, who sat in it without a sound.

Ranma, who was now sulking, retrieved her slipper while the purple-haired girl, Xian Pu, fawned over her and the dark-haired girl, Akane, fumed at the other two. Despite the obvious looks of hostility passing in all directions everyone not working was seated without further violence, although Akane appeared to take exception that she wasn't in a seat beside the redhead, while Xian Pu was. Only by straining her ears could Herb hear the harshly whispered word "floozy" that passed from the girl's lips.

_'I think'_, the prince of the Musk Dynasty mused, _'that I've stumbled on a very complex situation entirely by accident. I may have delayed myself by longer than I'd intended with this.'_ She smiled nonetheless when she took in her two bodyguards, who had not moved a muscle since sitting earlier. She was glad that her companions remained simple enough.

* * *

Seated at his end of the table, Lime was too deep in thought to participate in the opening discussions, even if they hadn't all been about people other than him. Others frequently underestimated Lime's ability to think, mistaking his single-mindedness for mindlessness. Mistakes such as this had caused no end of trouble, both to Lime's enemies and those allies he had who lacked a proper respect for him. The subject occupying all of the massive Musk warrior's focus was that Herb had breasts.

He was self-aware enough to admit that less than a year ago, before this journey all across China and now into Japan, he would have had difficulty identifying the breasts he was quite sure Herb had. He might, in fact, have mistook them for a strange sort of swelling, because he had never seen a woman before that journey. Now, however, he had seen quite a number of women, and the vast majority of them sported breasts. Lime allowed himself some pride that _his_ prince had breasts that were much more beautiful than those of most of the women he'd seen, and a fair bit larger beside.

The problem with this line of thought was that Herb having breasts, no matter how wonderful they were, necessitated that Herb was a woman. Men did not, to the best of Lime's knowledge, have them; no experience thus far in the journey he'd accompanied the prince on had led him to think otherwise. His prince being a woman was causing him quite a bit of mental strain. This new fact changed a great deal of knowledge Lime had always taken for granted.

Most troubling of all, perhaps, was the degree of trust in the relationship between himself and the heir to the Musk Dynasty. Where before he was certain that the prince confided in him fully, this new piece of information forced him to acknowledge that Herb could well have hidden, or still be hiding, other secrets. Lime hoped that any new secrets changed less than this one had. Very little about the prince, or the world, could now be taken for granted.

No women ever entered the temples or training grounds of the Musk. And yet, Herb had been to all of them; she was even destined to be their master. Women were fey and impractical things that lacked the martial resolve and prowess of men. And yet, Herb was unquestionably and easily superior to all the warriors Lime knew or had encountered, excepting king Tarragon himself, and that was a near thing. Inheritance among the Musk always passed from father to son. Daughters were simply recognized as a birth and a name in order to prevent potential incestuous unions. And yet, Herb was recognized as crown prince of the entire Musk Dynasty, set on the last task of finding a suitable wife before being recognized as king and replacing her father.

Lime's mind caught at the edges of that thought, and started following it to its source. Of _course_ Herb was the crown prince. She was the only child the old king had ever sired in his many years. From what little Lime's own father had told him, king Tarragon had been trying very hard for decades before finally returning home with a son. That son being a daughter wouldn't have worked; the Musk Dynasty's ruling family would die out, and there would be no ruler to replace the old king when he fell to time. No, if the old king had a daughter she would have to be his son.

Armed with this new understanding, Lime found that the last handful of months made absolutely perfect sense: the old king suddenly insisting that Herb leave her home and not return until she had a wife, the prince's initial hostility to the idea, the loose cloak she took to wearing, the discomfort she exhibited in close proximity with either of her guards, the journeys far outside Musk territory, the extreme interest in Jusenkyo and recovery of the Chiisuiton, the quest for the Kaisuifuu, Herb's fury at having her breasts revealed, and then relaxation and strange familiarity with the boy that became a girl who was responsible. Everything was clear, and the path before the prince looked to be a hard one. Lime's duty and conviction held that he would help her every step of the way.

Eyes wide with realization, Lime finally looked up at the busty redhead, and extraordinary martial artist, who Herb had decided to take as _his_ wife publicly, and _her_ husband in the privacy of their home. _'I gotta see if Mint knows about this yet. Herb might need our help to get her...him. She's so beautiful, but it's like that guy hasn't noticed.' _With his mind made up and thinking done, Lime stood up and pulled Mint out of his own chair.

* * *

The dinner was going splendidly, to Herb's thinking. Almost as soon as the pigtailed martial artist had sat down, _he_, presently she, had become the centre of attention. While being ignored seldom suited the Musk prince, being ignored while she was busy coming up with a false history and plan of action to protect it was too convenient to be taken as anything but a blessing. The things she was learning about these people didn't hurt either.

It seemed that Saotome Ranma, the boy with the same Jusenkyo curse as Herb, was the focal point of a very complex and hilariously unstable cluster of relationships. Xian Pu was the elder Ku Lon's great granddaughter, and betrothed to him by some Nichiezu trial. This made their continued presence in Japan something of a surprise; stories told that the Amazons went to great lengths to return such husbands to their villages. The elder's presence made that failure stand out even more.

_'Have I underestimated this Ranma?' _Herb was being forced to reevaluate the skills of her earlier opponent against the impressive feat of standing up to Ku Lon. There could not be many warriors on the Earth in a position to make such a claim, and only slightly more who could seriously claim the ability to do so were the opportunity presented.

The last of the Joketsuzoku villagers present was the server, Mu Tsu, a rare male Amazon warrior skilled in the art of hidden weapons. The young man was obviously trying to insert himself as a rival for Xian Pu's affections by proving his superiority to Ranma. Herb couldn't help but think that a more reasonable warrior would have found an opponent less far outside his league, perhaps by challenging the purple haired woman directly. For the life of her, the Musk prince couldn't imagine what use Ku Lon had for Mu Tsu here.

Another surprise came in the form of the girl with the short cut blue-black hair, Akane. She was _also_ Ranma's fiancée, despite the open hostility the two bore each-other. Even though this put her in direct competition with Xian Pu, Akane was exceedingly alive, something Herb had been led to believe lay outside the natural process of Amazon courtship rituals.

It looked as though the Musk records of the Nichiezu laws and customs were woefully outdated, and that it would fall to Herb to negotiate a more recent record of them. It would be unseemly to have sent a historian among the Amazons only to have them cause a diplomatic incident. Every obligation met gave rise to a new obligation just around the bend. _'The life of a prince is fraught with excessive work,'_ Herb chided herself. The troubles of the day would seem as a vacation when she was king.

Even more hostility existed between Ryoga and Ranma. Beyond a simple rivalry between the two, a perfectly normal and healthy relationship for a pair of martial artists, there was another source of conflict coming between the two. It had something to do, perhaps, with the way Ryoga came to Akane's defence whenever the pigtailed girl spoke against her, and she in defence of him. Outside of defending her, though, the fanged youth looked just as uncomfortable dealing with the dark-haired girl as he had with Herb after his initial joy had worn off.

Ranma's situation was, in a word, ridiculous. There she was, a petite girl being snuggled up against by a larger lavender-haired girl she was pointedly ignoring. Her position caused their server, who had recently removed his glasses, to yell threats and challenges at a waste receptacle before being quieted by Ku Lon. The elder's words did not silence the emotional boy in the bandana, who was speaking darkly of her honour for being untrue to her other fiancée. Said dark-haired girl was in turn belittling Ranma and insulting Xian Pu, all while giving the two girls her blessing to pursue their own relationship. The Amazon returned the insult and clung even more tightly to the presently smaller girl.

All throughout what must have passed for conversation, Ranma was frenziedly spouting denials and angry words in every direction. It was clear she was fighting a verbal battle that she'd never been equipped to participate in and had lost a thousand times before. That the battle in question was on altogether too many fronts did little to help her. To Herb's mind, however, the best part of all, that thing which had her smiling in cruel delight, was that all Ranma wanted was to speak to and fight _her_.

Herb was so enthralled by the proceedings that she only distantly noted Lime rising and taking Mint from the table with him. The larger of the two dragged the smaller toward the clearly marked restrooms. _'What could he be up to?'_ In spite of her better judgement, Herb let the question fade from her mind as she settled back in her relaxed observation of someone else suffering.

* * *

Lime's strong grip and the rapid relocation that followed served to pull Mint out of his own thoughts. He kept his peace until they were both in the solitude of the Men's room. There, he searched his friend's eyes for any sign of what could have caused his sudden action. He followed the larger warrior to the urinals and waited to see what would happen next.

Mint's wait wasn't long, before Lime leaned closer to him and said in a quick whisper, "what will we do to help master Herb?"

"Does the prince need our help more than usual? He seems to have everything worked out. Things are strange, but he's handling it well enough." Mint's confusion at his companion's words was obvious.

Lime growled out his reply to that. "Of course she needs our help! Have you seen that woman...man...guy? It's like he isn't moved by Herb's beauty at all."

"Wait... I can't see what that has to do with anything. What are you even talking about Lime?" Lime's look of irritation at that question said that he, Mint, had best join his topic of conversation in a hurry. Friend or not, Lime could be a pain.

"I'm talking about that guy master Herb beat up who turns into a girl that she came here to take as her husband, of course!" The tiger-eyed warrior made his statement as though no fact could have been more clear.

_'Of course,' _Mint chided himself, trying to make some sense of the words his partner had just spoken. Lime's mood being what it was already, he decided to refrain from actually asking questions to figure out where this colourful interpretation of reality had come from.

"Lime," he said softly, "Herb didn't _come_ here to find a husband. He came to retrieve the Open Water Kettle, which finally makes a lot more sense."

"Well, yeah, of course she'd want to get it," his friend said oh-so-reasonably. "A husband who could never be a man wouldn't be much use, what with the way Herb was sent away from home with the expectation of coming back with a wife."

Rubbing his temples, Mint tried to press forward. "Except Herb didn't need it to unlock a husband, who he isn't looking for _anyway_. He needs it to unlock himself because he got cursed at Jusenkyo and somehow hit with the Locking Ladle. It's why he's been hiding behind that cloak only recently.

"Besides," Mint concluded with a chuckle, "it's just not possible that Herb is really a woman. We've been training with him since we could stand. We would've noticed _something_ by now."

Lime shook his head, an expression of disappointment plastered on his face. "Oh, Mint. Use your head. It's obvious Herb and the king have been tricking us all along. The only other possibility is that our master fell into a Jusenkyo spring accidentally, then fumbled water from the Chiisuiton onto herself. This is the same master who can _fly_, and hasn't miss-stepped or erred in a kata in years we're talking about here. It's scary to think that prince Herb was born a woman, really scary, but let's not go making up crazy excuses."

Mint was left without a particularly good counter to that. It _was_ inconceivable for the faultlessly graceful prince to somehow bumble about and be cursed twice over. He was left thinking that someone would surely have noticed Herb being a woman in all those years of martial arts training. The disguise just crumbling in these last few months was very hard to credit. And yet reason _had_ existed to think the prince was different from every other student.

Herb had _always_ smelled very different from everyone Mint trained with. He'd always assumed it was the prince's Dragon heritage that caused it. He'd never had occasion to be close enough to really smell king Tarragon. Herb had smelled so very different from all the other _boys_. "Except," Mint gasped out through a tight throat, "Herb doesn't really smell all that different from all the women here." The realization struck the small warrior momentarily dumb thereafter.

"Exactly," Lime grunted. "You were being tricked by all your other senses. Now we're _thinking_, so our senses can't go around fooling us."

Silence and mutual understanding passed between the two men for a time, before Mint recovered himself enough to question his companion. "So, what can we do? He...She...Herb can't afford for us to let anyone know, or the king will be discredited. Our people would have no future ruler. Women don't inherit."

Lime looked grim. He spoke slowly, and with conviction. "I know Mint, I know. _You_ have to impress on that guy Herb chose, who is both a strong martial artist and can pose as a wife in public while being a man, how great master Herb is. He must know how important his role in the future of the Musk Dynasty is, and he has to want it. Me, I'll deal with the prince. Something tells me she's going to be mad a lot, and I take hits better than you."

Mint, who had been at least listening to what was going on around him despite his shock, was wondering aloud at the challenges before the two companions. "Damn...But that Ranma is engaged to other people already. Even the girls we brought here. That could work in _our_ favour, though. There's no way the two of them can compete with Herb's beauty and power, so Ranma should be happy. We might be able to get ourselves engaged to the girls in the process, as long as we can figure out their crazy laws."

"I didn't even think of that," Lime exclaimed in surprise and joy. With so many heavy thoughts, he was happy to pounce on a pleasant one.

The small warrior chuckled and waved his friend's comment aside. "Hey, I missed the _entire_ Herb thing until you pointed it out. Now we just have to sweep aside that guy with the robes, Mu Tsu, the guy with spots on all his stuff, Ryoga, and make sure that Ku Lon is alright with everything. Only the elder would be a problem. Unless we can find a way to satisfy her in ending that engagement we could both die fast."

"Ku Lon's the giant mouldy raisin, right?"

"Yup."

"Yeah, I'm scared of her. Must be why Herb didn't kill everyone over learning her secret. She was protecting us from that monster, despite that it was risking her destiny." Lime's words verged on reverent.

Mint's eyes were a little wet, and his voice still tight with emotion. "I guess so. Master Herb's kindness really can't be overstated, can it? I doubt any guardians in history have been more rewarded or cherished by their master than we have. Let's go help her with that boy!"

Filled with vitality and purpose, Mint strode back to the table while Lime relieved himself for real.

* * *

In an act of uncharacteristic mercy, Herb interrupted the seemingly endless bickering at the table by speaking to Ranma herself. "I am unfamiliar with your school of martial arts. Tell me of it." Her inhuman gaze meeting the offended glares of all assembled helped to silence their protests considerably. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to remain pleased the small girl's escalating panic and unhappiness. Sitting quietly had felt too cruel.

Ranma, for her part, seemed to be filled with relief at a chance to not be under verbal assault for a few moments. Something like thankfulness drifted across her face before an arrogant smirk wiped everything else away. Herb noticed she felt proud of helping the pigtailed martial artist.

"I'm heir to the Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts. We borrow techniques from whatever styles we find so we'll be the strongest school there is. It also means that when we have a rematch, I'm gonna beat your tricks." The redhead's declarations only served to put a grin on Herb's face.

"Yes, it is only a mater of time before you overcome such _tricks_ as my being faster, stronger, and more skilled in the Art than you," the Musk prince drawled.

She was rewarded with a flush of anger on her opponent's face and a clumsily sputtered retort."Hey! Ain't nobody better than Ranma Saotome, and I ain't gonna lose to some _girl_, even if ya look freaky weird." After the initial outburst, Ranma settled back in her chair and relaxed her expression somewhat. "And who the hell are ya that the mummy's treatin' ya so good."

Letting her smile grow to bare her teeth, Herb very nearly hissed out her response. "I am as much 'some girl' as the stars are 'some lights in the night sky'. That it is not strictly false does not prevent it from exhibiting a grave misunderstanding.

"You missed my earlier introduction, what with lying insensate following our first battle. I am prince Herb, heir to the Musk Dynasty and descended from Dragons. I am master of the pinnacle style of the Shokei Fist, and have remained undefeated by practitioners of any other styles since my twelfth year." Her introduction was accomplished with a variety of sweeping gestures and a crimson stare locked with Ranma's unwavering azure regard.

For the second time that day, Herb released all traces of her aggression to let peace suffuse her. Even being called 'freaky weird' seemed to roll off her back. She was stunned at how much easier the act had become since acquiring the curse. _'The guidebooks say nothing about improved mastery of one's emotions. They even said it should be harder at first, due to the newness of the altered hormonal balances, or some such. Perhaps it has to do with the changes in my ki.'_ Dispelling those thoughts for the time being, she found herself chuckling. "Well, then, now that our mutual bravado has been put on display for all to see, I am glad to have met you all."

Courtesy and diplomatic words were second nature to the Musk prince. To her delight, that was far from the case for most of the other guests. Only the Amazon managed to avoid stumbling over herself in expressing appreciation of the meeting. Xian Pu was nonetheless hindered by a poor grasp of Japanese.

Ranma did not even attempt to respond in kind, but crossed her arms beneath her breasts and kept her eyes locked with Herb's. _'It would seem,'_ the prince mused, _'that forced levity will not fool this one at all.'_

The staring match was broken when Akane yelled across the table at the pigtailed martial artist. "Ranma! Stop being a jerk and say something. You remember what Cologne said about not offending her, and you're just being rude." Ryoga was nodding in agreement at this, and looked ready to add a comment of his own when Mint returned moments ahead of Lime, drawing the attention of all still seated to their pale faces.

Ranma's expression darkened to a scowl as she spied the warrior with the tiger pelt wrapped about him. "I ain't playing nice with the dragon-lady 'til her thug apologizes fer messing with ya, Akane." Her words caused a strong reaction about the room. A strange emotion flitted across the dark-haired girl's face, fear and anger across the man with the bandana's, and some sort of jealousy across the Amazon's. Most surprising of all was the conspiratorial look that passed between Lime and Mint.

Bowing low, and flushing only slightly, Lime apologized. It looked and sounded terribly uncomfortable, but the huge warrior said a simple and polite, "I'm sorry, miss Akane," before straightening and scratching his head. Mint nodded to him, and _that_ seemed to remove some of his nervousness.

Herb was shocked to her core. Lime, aggressive, uncompromising Lime, had just given an apology for an offence he had no immediately obvious incentive to provide. Specifically, _she_ had not requested or ordered it of him. The look her two guards had shared suddenly became a great deal more meaningful in her eyes. Herb was left to re-evaluate how simple the pair really were, and what that might mean for her plans. _'Well, given their loyalty at least I can count on them supporting me,' _the Musk prince thought hopefully.

Akane seemed to have been pleased by the turn of events, and warmly accepted Lime's apology. "No harm done, Lime," the girl said. "Just don't ever do it again."

That this set Herb's massive bodyguard to giggling and blushing furiously reminded the Dragon prince of another of her problems. Lime and Mint were insufferable around women. Being a woman could very well make them just as frustrating, but directed at _her_. She'd have to secure a sufficient distraction by the end of the meal. She had an idea of how she might accomplish it.

"Alright. I guess that'll do. Pleased to meet'cha all," Ranma said moments before their meals arrived. Once they did, she was digging into her own with such ferocity as to leave no room for speech or any other action. Herb was struck with the suspicion that the only reason the pigtailed martial artist had agreed to drop her grudge so easily was to avoid possible distractions while she ate her abnormally large portions.

Ryoga, on the other hand, had started paying attention to Lime with the apology, and was scowling openly. "Ranma may not care about the way you treated Akane, but you need to be taught a lesson for it. I challenge you to a duel," Ryoga made an impromptu extension to his challenge when Ku Lon hopped up to the kitchen window, "outside the restaurant when we finish eating."

"That's just fine by-," Lime cut himself short when he saw Herb's hand raised between him and the angry young man.

Herb finished the sentence her subordinate had started, speaking softly and praying no more interruptions would come before the meal. "It will only be possible when we've secured our objective here in Japan. The same with any other challenges that might be presented to us. Be well aware, informal challenges will be met with lethal force on my part. I leave my vassals to decide how forgiving they wish to be of such breaches in protocol. Our mission is too important to be delayed by a fight and possible recovery period."

The Musk prince gave Ryoga a hard look to be sure that he had understood her. "I...I understand miss Herb," he said, before casting his eyes downward and fiddling with his food. "I can wait since it's obviously important to you, but I won't be denied."

No one else seemed to have anything important to say before the meal, though Akane had cast a confused and worried look at the fanged young man. _'She's felt Lime's strength,'_ Herb reasoned. _'There's no way she'd be happy to have a friend trying to fight him.'_

Herb left off concerning herself with the friendships and other confused relationships of the commoners surrounding her in order to fully enjoy the meal that the Amazon elder had prepared. Plain rice, crisp vegetables, and a small cut of chicken with some light, sweet sauces on the sides greeted Herb, and she had every intention of making the most of such a bounty. She would be on the road again, relying on the culinary skills of her two guards before the day was done. The Musk prince wondered whether Lime or Mint appreciated the room their own cooking had to improve, despite the limitations placed on it by camping and packing lightly enough that the larger warrior could carry very nearly everything.

Among the first to finish was the Amazon Xian Pu, who had needed to release Ranma to not be endangered by the redhead's dreadful eating habits. "Xian Pu want know what is Musk girl doing here?" The woman's question, which bordered on a demand by virtue of lack of skill in Japanese, or perhaps exceptional skill in appearing weak in the language, forced Herb to take a break from eating to respond.

Being referred to as 'Musk girl' appealed to the prince not one bit, but she endeavoured to not harm her cover by appearing too upset at it. Letting only some of her displeasure at interruption show in her tone of voice, Herb answered the question precisely. "I was here to ask your great grandmother for help finding an artifact of our people. I received that help. Now I am eating, as you just were." Xian Pu wisely left her to finish her meal. No others had chosen to address her before she'd eaten her fill.

Lime and Mint were being unusually quiet, the first failing to disguise his close observation of Herb, the second merely seeming to watch the table in general. It was Mint who broke the pair's silence when Ranma finished her own meal.

"So, Saotome Ranma," the smaller warrior said, "you're quite the fighter to be able to strike Herb. It even took our master some time to put you down, unlike everyone we've seen her fight in years. I know I'm impressed, but what are your intentions now that you've lost to her?"

Mint's probing caused the cursed martial artist to growl and raise a menacing fist toward him "I don't lose. I'm gettin' a rematch as soon as I can, even if I gotta chase you freaks ta where yer going ta do it."

Herb had no time to look in surprised satisfaction at a portion of her work being done for her. She had no time to wonder how, exactly, her vassal had intuited her wishes so completely. She didn't even have time to decipher when Mint had noticed the information necessary to force Ranma's hand. As Herb had learned in silent observation of the unfortunate martial artist's friends, for every action there must be a completely disproportionate reaction.

Herb tuned the event out. She did not need to _see_ the anger at the pigtailed girl to know it was present. This had already happened five times over far more trivial things. She did not need to _hear_ the wild accusations to be able to recite them. They had been through all the lyrics of that song three times over already. The chaos of several bickering teens in a monstrously deformed love triangle could, it seemed, be relied upon to manage itself. She wished she had time to analyze why things working out this way specifically failed to please her.

The Musk prince pushed her plate away, rose from her seat, and walked to the well appointed counter separating the kitchen from the dining area. Leaning on the wooden counter, she drew Ku Lon's attention with a wave.

The elder's dissatisfied greeting made her smirk. "Well prince Herb, that's a fine mess you've made of half of our resident crazies. What can I do for you before the disaster?"

"Current laws and customs of your people, both for myself and the historian you will be making use of."

"Is that all, young prince? And what do I get?"

Gesturing lazily at the still-mounting argument, Herb said, "After I find the Kaisuifuu, I bring your son-in-law back in reasonably good health before pursuing the rest of my task."

Ancient, unreadable eyes silently weighed Herb, before the head they protruded from nodded ever so slightly. "That's a deal, then. Do keep in touch. I'd love to hear what this 'task' of yours really is."

Herb grunted noncommittally. She had no intention to avoid contact with the Amazons. They had even proved invaluable in tracking down the kettle. On the other hand, she had no desire whatsoever to explain the task before her to anyone. In addition to being personally embarrassing, the nature of her mission would reveal a great secret of the Musk themselves, one she doubted would be well-received back home, given it would surely alert potential enemies to their growing weakness.

Herb turned once more to the shouting, arguing teens just in time to witness Akane uttering a peculiar battle-cry. "Ranma, you jerk!" In the wake of her cry, everyone save the Musk distanced themselves considerably from the target of the girl's ire. Ranma, for her part, simply sat and was struck in the face with a quite full bucket, enough force in the hurled object to reduce it to many splintered boards of wood. There was a solid "thwock" when the ladle which had rested in the bucket rebounded off of her skull. It landed on the table before her and wobbled to a rest. Herb was momentarily rendered speechless.

"Whatcha do that for, ya uncute, violent, to-" The thoroughly soaked redhead's protests died down when she noticed she wasn't the only one yelling at Akane, for a change. Lime had done so mortified. Mint seemed to be downright livid.

"How could you have?" Lime had wailed in protest.

Mint's outburst was something else altogether, as he'd gone from seated two places to the girl's right to shouting at her inches from her face. "You are a stupid, unthinking _child_. Do you have any idea what you've just done?" Ryoga seemed for a moment to be coming to the girl's defense, before a wickedly sharp curved blade materialized against his throat to halt his progress. Herb doubted anyone outside herself had even seen the wolf clan member draw his sword. The small warrior's feral growl and murderous stare even managed to silence Akane.

"If you're lucky, prince Herb will find what she came here for. Otherwise, _he,_" Mint paused in his tirade to point at Ranma, who was inches away from grabbing the furious Musk warrior, "is going to be trapped as a woman for the rest of his life."

With Mint's last statement even Ranma had been frozen in place. Herb decided to take charge of the situation before anything else went wrong, and while everyone else was off-balance. She had a suspicion things were a hairsbreadth from exploding into physical violence that would involve Ku Lon, and certainly be of a scale to draw the attention of local authorities. "Mint, you will cease threatening these locals and arrange to pay for our meals, while retrieving the item I had requested from the Amazon elder. You will then catch up with Lime, Ranma, and myself." The order took longer than it should have to remove her vassal from his precarious position, but his discipline held in the end.

In silence, Herb scooped the ladle off the table, hooked it onto Lime's pack, and made her way to the restaurant's exit. She pretended to miss Ranma pouring first a teacup, then the teapot over herself while she straightened her own small sack. "Lime, we are leaving now. If you are interested in proving yourself worthy of that rematch or being a man again, you will come with us as well Ranma." Having said her piece, the Musk prince stepped outside into the early evening's air.

Here, she could focus on breathing, and escape the depair in the other curse victim's eyes. A despair she'd seen in her own so many times in those first, horrible days. Even the echo of those feelings was enough to start wearing at her determination. The obvious misery in the girl who'd done that to Ranma, too, had struck a blow to herb's chest worse than any she could recall. _'I thought of doing that to her...him on purpose. Am I really so cruel and petty? What if Ku Lon is wrong? What if the kettle no longer works, or is truly lost? What if I'm trapped this way forever? What if _I_ were responsible for trapping _him_ this way forever?'_

From a distant, much-darkened corner of the prince's mind, her deeper male voice asked, _'when did you start caring about the feelings of others? When did _their_ fate start weighing on _your_ heart?' _Herb had no answers for this voice, either. With no other response available to her, she threw her cloak's hood over her head to shadow most of her face once again. Her memories, fears, and pain were her own. The world had no right to see the moistness in her eyes, or the tears that stained her cheeks.

She hoped they'd take their time joining her outside.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, that was draining. Busy weeks and the sheer amount of dialogue in this chapter slowed me down a lot. I was deeply torn on whether to have Lime and Mint working together, or at cross-purposes, but decided I'd already introduced more than enough complexity into this. Look forward to next chapter soon, where a very different trip to mount Horai (with much more action than this chapter) takes place. I know I'm looking forward to a bit less talking. Oh, and in case you haven't noticed I'm down to ONE Author's Note.  
**

**C&C much appreciated, and if you liked it at all please leave a review. A big thank you to the help with cleaning up chapter 3, and for all the support thus far.**


	5. Chapter 5: Proper Introductions

_**Disclaimer: Still don't own any part of Ranma 1/2. That's still other people. Don't sue me; my only possession is debt.**_

**Author's Note: This...took forever. Sorry to everyone for the delay, and I hope to tighten up releases for future chapters. If you can believe it, the single longest section to write was Mint's. It has also come to my attention that writing parts of a chapter in separate word processors is a brilliant way to wreck the formatting and slow writing to a crawl.**

**A huge thank you to this chapter's editor, Franzibald.**

**Updated to correct non-Canadian spellings.  
**

* * *

**A Prince's Duty - Chapter 5: Proper Introductions**

Things had been looking up... for a while, anyway. Sure, there was that whole kidnapping thing that happened, but the guy responsible actually apologized. So, that was nice at least, but a little suspicious since he didn't need to be beaten up to do it. Still, the kidnapper's boss had treated them all to lunch, and been sort of helpful to Ranma in stopping the never-ending arguments throughout. That last part set off alarms in her head despite the relief it brought. _'What kinda person beats ya up then does something nice for ya right after? She didn't even gloat... much. But the way she keeps lookin' at me is creepy. What the hell does she want?'_ Just by reading her expressions it was too hard to really grasp the things she was thinking; Ranma _still_ had trouble getting an idea of what was going on with normal people, doing the same with _dragon_ people was far outside of her comfort zone. The arrival of food, though, had done much to help the pigtailed martial artist overcome her uneasiness and lifted her spirits a bit. Alright, so things hadn't _exactly_ been looking up, but she was fed.

It was a relatively relaxed Ranma that found herself returned to reality by the disappointing absence of further tasty morsels on her plates, and no panda to try to steal more from. She'd barely had time to sigh and appreciate her fullness before the smaller of that strange girl, Herb's, goons tried to strike up a conversation.

"So, Saotome Ranma," he began haltingly. Ranma noticed that the boy sounded somewhat nervous, almost like a little kid about to ask something he knew would make an adult mad at him. "You're quite the fighter to be able to strike Herb. It even took our master a little time to actually put you down, unlike everyone _else_ we've seen her fight in years."

Ranma scowled at the insult. _'No one looks down on me and gets away with it. This kid wants ta see this Herb get her ass kicked, he's gonna get it.'_ Any good will the meal and quick apology had bought fled before Mint's words. The pigtailed girl's back stiffened, and she readied herself to show the Musk girl a real fight.

Mint kept on talking, seemingly unaware of any change in Ranma's demeanour. "I know that _I'm_ impressed, anyway, but what are your intentions now that you've lost to her?"

The now incensed martial artist growled and drew herself up to her full height. Still not being quite able to look the Musk warrior straight in the eye inspired her to shake her fist in ire at that, too. "I don't lose," spat out the Saotome. "I'm gettin' a rematch as soon as I can, even if I gotta chase you freaks ta wherever yer going ta do it." Ranma began to turn her head to glare dramatically into the crimson, reptilian eyes of Herb. Her own cerulean orbs froze on the way, captured by the worried look her uncute fiancée was giving her.

She'd been working at saying the wrong thing less often, despite that it wasn't exactly in her nature to do so. But, in the stress of the moment, having just been insulted for losing a martial arts battle to a girl she'd actually been taking seriously, along with that look on Akane's face, Ranma couldn't do a thing to stop herself. "What's with that stupid expression, Tomboy?" The question moved the dark-haired girl's quite visible emotional state straight to cold fury, which stole away some of the redhead's own anger.

And then things sped back into motion, as they always did.

Ryoga rose from his chair with his battle aura already starting to become visible. His face was contorted by his now painfully familiar anger at his rival. "How dare you mistreat Akane this way? And _now_ you want to run off with some strange, beautiful woman you just met. Have you no honour, Ranma?!"

"Gee Ryoga, where's your whole, 'Ranma, prepare to die,' schtick at? Ya scared Cologne's gonna make some sweet and sour pork?" Ranma was pretty sure her insult had hit home, what with the way cracks were spreading through the table from the Lost Boy's crushing hands.

"_You're_ the problem, _jerk_." Akane spoke the words through clenched teeth, poorly masking the hurt that was mixed in with her anger. "That girl is dangerous, and here you are, planning to chase after her to satisfy your own perversions! Well don't you worry about anyone here caring about _your_ safety, if all you're going to do is belittle us."

Shampoo took Ranma's distraction as an opportunity to cling to her reluctant husband once more, letting out a contented giggle in doing so. "Is too, too bad for Violent Girl," she gloated. "Airen only want Shampoo with him when face Musk Girl. Needs _strong_ Amazon warriors what can make delicious food, yes?"

Ranma was now flailing around in an attempt to free herself, the struggle rubbing entirely too much of the amorous Amazon's anatomy against her own. "Aw, get offa me Shampoo," she protested without significantly changing her circumstance. With no luck removing the Chinese girl, Ranma turned pleadingly to Akane. "Ya know it ain't like that at all Akane, I just can't let this end in a loss. So quit being so uncute-." Ranma's free hand clamped over her mouth just a moment too late to interrupt the now-instinctual insult.

The party's near blind server cut in at that moment with his own tried and true speech. "Saotome, how _dare_ you take advantage of Shampoo, you cad!" Mousse's sleeves were widened to accommodate the impossible array of weapons kept there that were now peeking out. It seemed Mousse was in the running to be the first to violate the old ghoul's ban on fighting inside the Nekohanten. Ranma readied herself to leap away from the profusion of deadly and ridiculous armaments.

Shampoo, never one to let a bad situation fail to become worse, threw herself expertly into Ranma's lap, pinning her in her seat. "Silly, silly duck-boy," she taunted, "is no hope to interfere with Shampoo's vacation with Ranma. You go back to kitchen!"

Helpless to stop what was coming next, it was a resigned Ranma that turned her attention from the now-enraged Mousse to a positively livid Akane. _'Oh, well _this_ is gonna suck,'_ Ranma thought with a wince. _'Yup, those are Akane's irrational violence veins popping out. It's gotta be bad for her skin or something. Least I got to eat before gettin' kicked out.'_

Being across the table from Ranma, Akane was not in a reasonable position to use her trusty mallet. The furious girl's currently female fiancé was taking some comfort in that, and wondered whether she'd be flattened by a chair, a table, or possibly some more exotic instrument of blunt force trauma. Every day she thanked the Kami that Akane wasn't strong enough yet to easily swing around Ryoga's umbrella. The dark-haired girl was reaching down to her left, where the huge Musk warrior with the devilish eyes was keeping his absurdly over-sized pack.

"Ranma, you jerk!" The expected battle cry tore through the air, briefly preceding an ornate bucket with a ladle in it. Trapped in her seat, Ranma felt as much as saw Shampoo dart away with altogether too much speed. The bucket struck the temporary girl's head, which stung a little before the wood exploded; it must have been particularly fragile for all its decoration. A ladle, which had been in the bucket, bounced off her skull harmlessly, and due to already being a girl the water currently soaking her was only a mild annoyance.

In the interest of keeping up appearances, Ranma rubbed her forehead briefly, before yelling across the table, "whatcha do that for ya macho, violent tom-."

Her own tirade was too tame and tired to stand beside the towering rage the smallest Musk Warrior was in. The boy had gone from being seated beside Ranma to standing with his face almost pressed against Akane's without any apparent interim.

"You are a stupid, unthinking _child_," he roared. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?" Ranma could see Akane's shock at the outburst. No one had _ever_ reacted to her like that before. She supposed the bucket _had_ looked pretty expensive, but she didn't think it called for so severe a reaction. Ryoga, for his part, had half-risen to help Akane when the small Musk's sword vanished from his back and its appeared against the Lost Boy's throat.

Ranma herself had recovered enough to stand to deal with the new threat to her fiancée. The boy, though, continued his own furious speech. "If you're lucky, prince Herb will find what she came here for. Otherwise, he," the Musk warrior was now pointing right at Ranma, "is going to be trapped as a woman for the rest of his life." She was reaching out and across the table when those words crashed into her harder than any mallet yet.

Thoughts of defending Akane vanished from the pigtailed martial artist's mind as it furiously processed the words she'd just heard. _'Trapped? Stuck as a... a woman for the rest of my life?'_ Those were thoughts and concepts that she was frightfully familiar with, but Ranma refused to let them be put together properly in her mind. She simply would not let it be true. There was no way some _stupid_ bucket and some water could doom her to such a fate.

More people started talking then, and movement was all around her, but Ranma could now only see and think about one very specific thing. Finding her cup still half-filled with tea, the redhead splashed it in her face. The warm liquid stung her eyes briefly, but nothing else happened. The tingling sensation she was waiting on never came. _'It's the tea,'_ she told herself, _'it just ain't hot enough for the change...'_ She carelessly scattered dishware and some of the remaining food across the table as she lunged for the teapot. She closed her eyes as she poured the steaming liquid left inside onto her head.

Ranma's eyes opened again, seeing the world through still-red and dripping bangs. Every face in the room was trained on her, and she still had not changed.

_'Woman for the rest of his life,'_ the boy with the wolf skins' words echoed through her skull. She saw uncounted futures die off, and felt bile rise in her throat at what remained. A traitorous voice rose unbidden from the recesses of her mind to capitalize on her moment of weakness. _'Maybe mom'll want to adopt Ranko, now that she'll never get to see her son again.'_ Ranma sucked in a painful breath, and fought to keep control of herself in the face of mounting despair. Fear of what she would see kept her from looking up at anyone. She knew if she found pity in their eyes, she'd be lost.

Herb's voice tore through the fear, a mixture of derision and what could only be hate. "Lime, we are leaving now. If you are interested in proving yourself worthy of that rematch or being a man again, you will come with us as well Ranma." The Musk prince then stepped outside without a glance at those behind her.

The redhead's despair had been promptly arrested. Herb was offering to get her manhood back, and a chance to restore her status as best martial artist. All she had to do was follow along like she'd originally planned. She could even help find whatever they were looking for. With relief flooding through her, Ranma took a napkin to clean up her face, trying not to be conspicuous about focusing on her eyes. _'Boys don't cry,'_ she reminded herself as she brushed her wet hair back out of her face so she could see everyone around her.

The small Musk, Mint, was currently locked in quiet discussion with Cologne, and both looked to be quite angry. Ryoga appeared thoughtful, which worried Ranma a little. Few of her rival's thoughts failed to involve harming her in some way. Shampoo was glaring at Akane, malice distorting her otherwise adorable features. Mousse had made his face unreadable behind his glasses, but was starting to clear the table distractedly. The large Musk wore agony plain and simple as he turned from the door, to Akane, to Ranma, and back again.

Akane looked stricken. Guilt and fear warred for dominance on her face and she flinched at seeing her fiancé's gaze. "Ranma, I," the girl began, only to be cut off by the redhead shushing her vehemently.

"Ya didn't mean nothing by it, Akane, it was just a stupid accident." Ranma tried to make herself feel those words, to not leave her fiancée completely miserable. She had more important things to do right now than fighting with Akane. "But now I gotta follow her, for both my pride and manhood. And I'm goin' alone." Ranma's declaration rang with finality, defying any to contradict it.

Akane shuddered, but held her ground, whispering, "but- but what if she kills you?"

The redhead tugged on her pigtail and gave a nervous laugh. "That ain't gonna happen. She said she wouldn't kill anyone in a formal match."

"No, Ranma, she said she would kill people in an informal match."

"What, ya don't think I can win?"

"Of course I do." Akane's confidence in that quiet statement was a huge boost to Ranma's own.

Mind now completely focused on the coming victory, Ranma gave a trademark grin to her dark-haired fiancée. "Good," she simply said, "because I will."

The pigtailed girl's head snapped up as she felt a hand fall on her shoulder. Ryoga was looking down at her with an uncharacteristic smile. Ranma blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing that right. "Don't worry, Akane. I'll follow Ranma to make sure they don't do him any real harm. I'd be ashamed if I let a _poor_ girl wander off alone with such dangerous people."

"Err, yeah, thanks Ryoga," mumbled Ranma with the barest of twitches in her eye. "Just don't piss any of 'em off. I need that... whatever it is they're lookin' for." Her halfhearted acceptance of the fanged boy's assistance was made easier with the knowledge that he would soon get completely lost anyway.

She could hear a sharp "crack" from the kitchen, and Cologne berating Mousse. It seemed the near-blind young man had displeased her somehow. The elder left the kitchen, and a dejected Mousse got back to working.

A chill passed through Ranma's spine, and she saw Shampoo preparing yet another glomp. _'Teach me to leave an opening. Doesn't she get tired of this? I wonder why she's never as embarrassed as I am by that.'_

Surprisingly, the lavender haired Amazon never reached her intended target. The old ghoul had interposed herself and was scowling at her great-granddaughter. "No, girl. You're staying here as well." the old woman's command carried the force of her centuries. "These men and their prince are far too dangerous. The blood of beasts truly courses through their veins, and the prince's claims are anything but bluster. You are unprepared for this challenge. Besides, how exactly am I to stay in business without you and Mr. Part-Time actually doing your work?

"Well," Cologne continued, turning her attention from her now-pouting great-granddaughter to both the man in the tiger hides and Ranma, "if you're determined to face Herb again, son-in-law, you had better hurry and follow this nice young man out."

Steeling herself, Saotome Ranma, man-among-men, gave the old woman a quick nod before striding confidently out the Nekohanten's door. _'I don't lose. And I _ain't_ no girl.' _Well-wishing from her 'friends' saw her off. The big warrior hefted his backpack and left beside her. The satisfaction she felt in the expression of awe he wore while looking at her was only spoiled by his eyes slowly and repeatedly tracking down to her breasts before he corrected himself. _'Right. Pervert_. _Gotta remember that for__ some later date.'_

Upon stepping outside, both huge boy and small girl looked to the hooded figure that had been waiting beside the doorway. The former's expression turned to outright adoration at the sight of his prince. _'I wonder what's up with that, anyway,' _Ranma questioned. _'Shouldn't she be a princess?'_

A small grunt emanated from within Herb's cowl, before she spun smoothly and walked away. Her bodyguard followed immediately, and with a shrug Ranma got in step as well.

* * *

Passerby would have witnessed three figures walking to the gates of the Tendo dojo. The only proper excuse not to have noticed them was total blindness, considering the composition of the unusual procession. Visitors would have seen a short Japanese girl with fiery red hair and mannish clothes, a suspicious figure in a white cloak and cowl with oddly patterned garments protruding from underneath, as well as a huge young man with wild eyes and tiger-stripe garb carrying a backpack of alarming size. Those outsiders might wonder whether these people were cosplayers of some sort, and just _what_ manner of convention was in the area. The observers from the neighbourhood, though, recognized the first girl and went on with their days without a second thought, secure in their knowledge that her presence excused almost all strangeness.

"Gather your things quickly, Ranma. Time grows short for me, and I cannot afford to squander any more of it on hospitality." Herb had said those words, and the smaller curse victim had seemed to understand them quite well, as she dashed off into the Tendo home. Herb was therefore growing quite frustrated with waiting. She wanted to head off immediately; the relic she'd sought was very nearly in her grasp. And yet she equally wanted to learn about the martial artist she'd fought earlier that day, to actually _hear_ and _witness_ the experiences of someone under the very same curse as her rather than just reading their collected and most surely self-censored thoughts on the matter.

It was while meditating on the many questions she had to ask Ranma, that Herb's guard started speaking. It was a clumsy affair, with the huge warrior practically tripping over his own tongue while looking anywhere _but_ at her. She barely suppressed a giggle as Lime slowly pieced together the thoughts that he was trying to express himself through . He was gesticulating wildly all the while, as though through sheer physical might he could force his thoughts and emotions into words.

"Umm... Sorry it took so long to figure it all out, master Herb," the big man finally said. "We kind of talked about it at the restaurant, and, well... Mint and I promise to protect your secret. We're going to help you; you're our prince, no matter what!" Lime managed to look at the Musk heir as he finished, and his breath seemed to catch.

Herb was touched by the loyalty her companions had displayed, and a little ashamed of all that she'd hidden from them. _'They've been my shadows for most days of my last 13 years, how could I think them capable of any species of treachery?'_ She had raised her hood to allow Lime to see her pleasure at his words, but he looked, if anything, more nervous and uncomfortable. She was aware that she was to blame for her vassal's discomfort. The irrational and sometimes violent way she had lashed out at him since acquiring the curse and trying to keep it hidden were, despite the circumstances, unforgivable. It fell to her to improve her behaviour and reassure her men that they had done their duty well; this was her own duty.

The heir to the Musk Dynasty clapped a hand on the taller man's shoulder, and nodded up at him. "No less could be believed of warriors such as Lime and Mint," she intoned. Lime had tensed up even more at her touch, but he was prevented from retreat and trapped in place by her eyes. It seemed she'd intimidated him worse than she'd thought. Herb laughed then, and said simply, "relax. We've still got a long way to go, and I need you in top form. As you say, I am your prince, no matter what."

Lime finally seemed to calm down a bit when she released his shoulder and stepped away from him. Glad to have that out of the way, Herb raised her hood once more and resumed waiting for Ranma. When the red-haired girl in question left the Tendo home, she looked vaguely ill. A well-worn travel pack rested on her shoulders, and she was in a new, clean change of clothes. She rejoined Herb and her guard without a word. Giving her new travelling companion what privacy she needed, the Musk prince said only this: "Show us the way out of the city."

* * *

The elder rooted through her room for something while Mint waited in the hall. He'd been all but overcome with anxiety ever since that foolish girl in the restaurant had destroyed the Chiisuiton's bucket and sealed Ranma, prince Herb's intended husband, as a woman. That the pigtailed girl had left with Lime a few minutes ago was some small comfort, at least. _'Even if he'll be a woman for it, at least it'll give him a chance to know Herb better.' _Despite that little bit of hope, the possibility that the Kaisuifuu would not be found was enough to keep Mint upset.

Just as troubling was the small part of him that hoped the kettle _couldn't_ be found. Prince Herb and Ranma's female form were beautiful, to say the least! Certainly, the prince was unattainable, and any efforts he might make to gain her affections were doomed to failure from the start. Besides, they had been almost like brothers for most of their lives. And, to be sure, Ranma was really male, but cursed to take the body of a woman. Mint could only barely imagine how he would feel about another man trying to take _him_ as a wife were he so cursed. Still though, Lime's recent revelation and the events of the day had introduced _four_ attractive young women into their otherwise female-deprived lives and snatched two away outright. Ranma's female form, in particular, must be the work of some cruel god's dereliction of duty in order to make time to poke fun at the small Musk warrior. A pretty, lively girl that was actually _shorter_ than him should just _not_ have been allowed to be a man.

With a sigh, Mint turned back to where everything had happened. Xian Pu, the cute Amazon, was cleaning tables and glaring at Akane, the young woman who had locked Ranma's true form away. Akane was trying with little luck to escape a conversation with Ryoga, the man wearing the bandanna. Ryoga's idea of conversation seemed to consist mainly of bringing up random subjects, then looking around with a flushed face, before repeating the process over again. Mint flinched at the raw ineptitude the bandanna-clad youth was exhibiting. It reminded him of the very first time _he_ had seen a woman. _'What's _his _excuse,'_ the Musk warrior wondered.

The delicious meal from earlier had been quickly forgotten, the joy it brought lost even before the last bite. _'There's probably something philosophical in that,'_ reflected Mint.

He was spared engaging in an activity better left to men of a more scholarly bent by the Amazon elder Ku Lon's return. She held in one of her hands a book with a plain leather cover and a slightly worn spine. "This," she explained, "is the item your prince wanted you to collect. You may inform her that she can rest assured that another copy will be sent by the time we collect our part of the other bargain." Mint accepted the book, and nodded. Whatever other bargains the prince had made were hardly his business.

In turning to rush after Herb, Mint stopped himself and took a moment to look back at the old woman. If prince Herb had been polite to her despite her frightful appearance, it would be improper to be less so. "Thank you, elder Ku Lon," he said with a quick bow, before returning to his objective. He would be the laughingstock of the Musk Dynasty if he lost track of the prince he'd been raised to guard, and Tokyo was far too large and foreign to risk letting her get too far. The Amazon elder, it seemed, had something else on her mind.

"A moment, child," she interrupted. The creases in her forehead were developing creases, a sight that forced Mint to look away while the ancient spoke. "The Kaisuifuu has been lost to your people for ages. Why, then, is Herb just now searching for it?" The Musk warrior could hear many unspoken questions trailing after that one.

Mint's pointed ears twitched in irritation, and no small amount of alarm. _'This old hag has no justification for snooping in master Herb's business,'_ he thought. He suspected he did a very shoddy job of straining the hostility from his voice when he said instead, "prince Herb never stated her purpose in acquiring the kettle. Even if my companion or I had thoughts on the matter, it would be a betrayal of our duty to speak them. If you must know, then you will have to ask Herb." Sure that his answer had sufficiently dissuaded the elder from asking further questions, Mint got back to the surprisingly challenging task of leaving.

It did not escape his attention that Ryoga watched his departure, or that Akane used the shy boy's distraction to speak to Ku Lon. Nor did he fail to note the former's intention to follow him, or the latter's sudden and certainly unwarranted rage. In that instant, Mint was sure he didn't want his friend and fellow bodyguard having anything to do with the dark-haired girl. Whether or not she meant harm, she was far too adept at inflicting it and made Herb seem to possess a Buddha's even temper. The Dragon prince had heredity as an excuse for her anger, Mint couldn't possibly imagine what this young Japanese woman could leverage to compare.

The small Musk warrior decided that in order to help his friend get over not being able to woo the (admittedly) cute maniac, Lime would need a stress reliever. The grinning idiot with the spotted bandanna, he reasoned, would do well for that purpose. Mint would just have to make it so that he was easy to follow while looking for his prince. If he could find her soon after nightfall, it would even give the larger bodyguard ample time to play.

* * *

"Hey, what gives with that bucket you got, and why're ya keepin' it full? Ain't it dangerous that way?" Ranma's irate question comprised the first words spoken between the trio since leaving the Tendo residence. Herb was relieved enough to hear that the other curse victim still wished to speak with her that she chose to ignore the tone of voice used. Besides, she could understand Ranma's being upset very well.

Before replying, Herb took a moment to look at the sullen female from whom the question had originated. _'Just another instance of Jusenkyo's wicked sense of humour coming to the fore,' _she mused. Men came out of the Nyanniichuan cute, pretty, striking, or outright beautiful, and _never_ plain. The redhead was short, had excellent proportions, and a face which gave any expression it wore an edge of _girlishness_. She had on a red shirt of some strange fabric with frog ties all the way down and sleeves rolled to the elbows, as well as overly large black pants tied at the waist and ankles. They were a fairly good wardrobe choice given her curse, even if they did nothing to disguise her shape.

Ranma had developed a full-blown scowl while Herb was looking her over. "Like whatcha see?"

Herb recognized that answering the third question would have to wait until she could think of a sufficiently good response. The first two, however, were easy enough. "The ladle is quite dangerous to Jusenkyo curse victims whose curses are unlocked, but harmless otherwise," she explained. "We are travelling in the company of no such people at present. As to why we were so quick to acquire and fill a new bucket for the Chiisuiton, it is merely a matter of the water-based nature of Jusenkyo's magic. If left dry, the enchantments on the relic might deteriorate." Face impassive, Herb focused on the path leading her further from the noise of Tokyo.

"Yeah, because ya wouldn't want that, wouldja?" Ranma groused, her words soaked with sarcasm.

_'My but he _is_ hostile. I hope that stops soon, it's going to make me wish I never brought this Ranma along with me.'_ Herb focused on how best to put the redhead at ease.

Guessing that some hopeful truths might be a good way to make Ranma more companionable, she tried that tack. While a struggle, the Musk prince managed to keep the frustration she was feeling from being expressed, and addressed the pigtailed girl with a smile. "You are right, Ranma, we most certainly would not. The least impressive of the ladle's magics is all but necessary to locate the kettle's exact position, and will make that simplicity itself once we are near enough to it. I suspect that for us that's the most valuable magic it possesses at this time."

"So as long as that thing stays wet my turning back to normal's gonna be a cinch?"

"If the information Ku Lon gave me is accurate."

"Well, the old ghoul's pretty sneaky, but she ain't got a reason to wanna keep me a girl forever. So I'll be myself again real soon!" Ranma's outburst grew steadily in volume and glee, finishing with a terrifically fake laugh that was accentuated by arms held out and down to her sides. The last part did very distracting things to her breasts, the Musk prince noted.

Herb directed her eyes at the road and made a mental promise to either restrain her own mirth in the future or invest in those 'bras' that she'd seen being advertised everywhere. The expression Lime had been wearing at Ranma's display denied the possibility of leaving well enough alone. _'There's no reason to avoid the garments anymore, since Lime and Mint are already aware of my condition. The advertisements suggest that they can be quite comfortable...'_

So occupied was the prince in thinking of ways to make her time as a woman slightly less unbearable that she only noticed Ranma was trying to get her attention when the redhead was screaming and being restrained from grabbing her through substantial effort on Lime's part. "-princess! So do ya know a cure or what?" Herb put away her daydreams and tried to recall what had been said. It was something to the effect of a demand for knowledge about removing Jusenkyo's curse based on her understanding of the magic involved. Lime had been gently reprimanding the pigtailed martial artist for rudeness, but had suspiciously failed to take punitive action.

_'His behaviour bears looking into. Later.'_ Putting aside that oddity, Herb couldn't help but glare at Ranma as she crisply stated, "my correct title is 'prince'. There is no such thing as a Musk princess." Said prince calmed herself and bid Lime to release Ranma. Her bodyguard reluctantly complied; he seemed to have been quite enjoying the grip he'd gained. The way the now flushed redhead was crossing her arms in front of her helped to allow sympathy to bleed into what Herb had to say next. "I know of no proper cures to Jusenkyo's curse, and have a good source of information in that regard. One can be locked in a cursed form, but the magic has not been known to allow other reliable forms of permanent or even long-term relief." The look of disappointment on the other curse victims face and the defiance in her stance provided the heir to the Musk Dynasty with a proxy. Watching someone else feel emotions was almost as good a release as expressing them herself. Herb's gratitude was mixed with more of the recent guilt; Ranma seemed too experienced with having her hopes dashed.

"Hah! Well it shows what you know, lady. Guess I'll just have to keep lookin' for some Nanniichuan water, then." Unsurprisingly, the pigtailed martial artist's belligerent words did wonders to assuage that guilt.

"Curses build on one-another, they are not replaced." Herb's lips curled up when her hard words seemed to strike Ranma like a hammer-blow. "Oh, I didn't expect you to believe _that_ so easily. Did you already suspect something?"

"Aww, hell, just like Pantyhose..." Ranma was starting to look seriously ill. "So instead of turnin' into a girl, I'd turn into some freaky girl-guy thing?"

Herb tried not to wonder how pantyhose related to the additive nature of Jusenkyo curses. Instead she nodded to the redhead and decided to let her think up her own unpleasant scenarios. That thought started to make the prince feel somehow queasy. Certainly, Ranma _was_ being disrespectful, but did that really call for the harshness she was using? _'It's not even as bad as what I was planning on doing to Cumin,'_ Herb reasoned, _'and yet I cannot shake the feeling that I'm being inexcusably petty. I am even __less comfortable with what I'd planned out for the monkey than I was back then.'_ Herb's toothy grin descended into a frown. She could now be entirely sure something was wrong with her.

Ranma had taken to tugging on her own pigtail, a look of intense concentration on her face. Some few minutes of walking later the redhead's eyes started twitching, with her lips parting occasionally before being shut with the click of connecting teeth. Intrigued by what could be going on with her, Herb kept an eye and ear out for any changes in the almost comical war raging across Ranma's face. The group was making their way off-road toward a wooded area, with the sun beginning to dip below the horizon before that awaited change came. The pigtailed martial artist took a ready stance, her eyes hardened and focusing directly on Herb's. The heir to the Musk Dynasty' heartbeat quickened, and she prepared for what would come next.

"Thanks, you know, fer tellin' me about the Nanniichuan and takin' me with ya to get back to normal." Herb nearly lost her balance and poise at these sudden words, so at odds with the redhead's current posture. It was a struggle to keep focusing on her words rather than analyzing why they had come out as they had.

Ranma was nervously digging a hole in the ground with her toe by the time Herb had collected her wits. "So, uhh...I gotta ask why ya aren't just going on about how ya beat me up or tryin' to marry me or somethin'. It's not normal to get a princess come an' fight me and just act like nothing's happened."

Lime had not kept his composure, and had stumbled before putting on a huge idiot grin. Herb amended her earlier thoughts of a lurking intelligence in the giant; his mirth at the embarrassing proclamation displayed a potentially terminal lack of attention to his own survival. For now though, the prince would settle for harsh demands and scowling at him. In the morning, she would select him as sparring partner to get used to throwing more ki blasts in her female body. That thought allowed her to don a smile as they walked into the woods, where she found a good stump to sit on. "Lime, leave us and go set up camp, then return and keep a lookout for Mint. It should never have taken him this long to meet up with us and I'd like to know what delayed him as soon as possible. Stay up all night if you must."

Once her retainer had vacated the immediate vicinity, Herb returned her attention to Ranma, who had started to follow after the man. A tight grip on the other curse victim's wrist kept her from getting anywhere, and ensured that the prince had her full attention. "No, not you. I will answer your questions, and then you may set up your own things." When she released her grip, the redhead spun away, and after a moment of looking down at Herb she took a seat on the ground by another tree, mumbling something about being too used to shortness while doing so. She was also rubbing at the deep finger marks Herb had left on her.

"First of all, you are welcome. Hiding knowledge so valuable to you and costless to me would have been unconscionable for someone of my status. No _prince_ should be so miserly." Herb hoped the emphasis on her correct title would keep Ranma from getting it wrong again. "As for bringing you along, that is a matter of convenience for me rather than any great kindness to you. I do not know how much time I have left before I am called home, and would feel somewhat uncharitable leaving you trapped in a body that is not your own." In truth, she'd feel just horrible for leaving the other curse victim that way. She suspected that she'd have delayed her return home in order to correct it. The experience from her end had been anything but enjoyable.

Ranma cocked her head to the side for a moment and frowned. Suspicion was clear in her narrowed, expressive blue eyes. "Hey, why are ya always calling yourself a prince, anyway?"

The prince in question found herself dismissively waving the words away; she inwardly marvelled at her ability to keep her temper even. She was certain she would have killed or crippled someone for these mistakes, until recently. "It is my title. The king's heirs are princes, and I am acknowledged as his only potential heir to the throne. Now exhibit some patience while I answer your much more amusing questions." Herb was finding actively revealing her curse to be something too embarrassing to so much as attempt. She would leave that for Ranma to figure out. _'Although this does lead to the question of _how_ I am going to explain it to father if I can't even broach the subject with a complete stranger who happens to already be under the same curse? Perhaps the heavens will show me some brand of mercy after all this and delay my being recalled.'_

Shaking her head, which caused long black tresses to whip about before her eyes, Herb continued speaking. "I do not see why defeating you should be something to make a fuss about. I defeat everyone, so your making a particularly good showing for yourself is infinitely more noteworthy than your losing. Your style was Anything Goes, did you say? It seemed very compatible with the high forms of my own style, if completely at odds with the low forms. I look forward to seeing more of it without growing so upset that I overwhelm you with power alone. The temptation to always rely on sheer force has kept more than a few of my ancestors from growing into their potential."

"Yeah, I don't lose either," enthused the redhead. "Next time we fight, _I'm_ gonna be the one that wins." She'd put on a bit of a smirk, and seemed quite sure of herself in declaring her imminent victory. Herb reflected that arrogance was a virtue others could also aspire to. It just didn't suit them anywhere near as well.

The Dragon prince let her thoughts on Ranma's bold claims be known with a dismissive snort. "Admirable resolve in you meets baseless optimism, but so be it I suppose. You will also have to tell me why you should expect that I would want to marry you. I am after more than a pretty face, you realize." Some alien, but wholly internal force was making it difficult to be cruel to the pigtailed girl, and Herb was quite unable to deny it. Thankfully, playing with and poking fun at her seemed to be acceptable.

Ranma's choked indignation proved that Herb's words had hit _a_ mark. "Y-You gotta be kidding! I spend every wakin' moment bein' chased around by fiancées or just plain crazy girls and you can't think of a reason why ya'd want a stud like me?" Herb thought the thumb pointed straight at her 'studly' breasts was an excellent touch.

An opening presented itself, however, and the Musk prince knew it had to be exploited. "Perhaps if you told me about the girls fighting over you and their reasons I'd get a better idea. You should know those better than I."

"Fine," Ranma sniffed. "There's 'Kane, but it's not like she really likes me or nothin', we're just engaged because of our idiot fathers. Umm...I beat Shampoo in a fight so she's gotta marry me 'cause of those stupid Amazon laws. An' then there's Kodachi, but she's completely nuts so she doesn't really count as a 'fiancée'; ya see she got obsessed with me when I protected her from some girls tryin' to beat her up or somethin'. Umm, I guess last there's Ucchan; she was my best friend when we were little, but she got engaged to me by our parents and my pops ran off with her dowry." The redhead's fiery disposition guttered as she ticked off the girls on her list. Herb's eyes sparkled with delight at how easy this would be for her.

"So," Herb began reasonably, all but purring as she got into it. "It would appear that you have attracted women by having your parents dishonour you and your fiancées with multiple engagements, your ability to beat your potential spouse, and your kindness to the mentally unstable. Now, I _will_ admit that the last speaks volumes about your character, Ranma, but a dishonourable family and your _insufficient_ ability - if not willingness - to defeat me in combat are not major selling points to me. So we're left with a pretty face and kindness towards the insane."If that's all you have to offer I'm not sure where you got the idea that anyone of my stature would _choose_ to pursue you. Give it time and you might come up with some better ideas, though."

Seeing Ranma struggling to locate an appropriate response beyond mute indignation, the Musk prince couldn't help but laugh to blunt the teasing. "Fortunately for you, those are _not_ all of the ways you can benefit me, and I'll tell you one of them freely. Your situation and mine are similar, and because of that I wished for more time to speak with you. I know it will be entertaining, and hope it will be enlightening."

"Yeah, like _I_ got anything in common with some pink-haired lizard princess that talks like a Kuno! Ya just keep chatterin' and..." Ranma's flustered insults, some of which were dangerously close to actually being upsetting, trailed off when Lime stumbled into view.

Looking intensely uncomfortable, the bodyguard glanced from Herb to Ranma several times, before scratching his head. "I didn't mean to interrupt you, master Herb. Camp is set up in a clearing a bit down the way I came from. I made a good path; you can both go to camp while I wait for Mint."

"Well done, Lime." The bodyguard's face lit up at this smallest praise. "I think I will get some rest, now. It would appear I am not cut out for the thoughtless bickering Ranma and his friends seem to so enjoy." Without another word, Herb rose and departed in the direction Lime had arrived from. She was relieved to see that she hadn't been followed. Her bodyguard's interference had come at a perfect time. As two suddenly smoking tree stumps and piles of splintered, blackened wood could now attest, Herb had been angered. More specifically, she had been angered by childish insults she'd known to expect and had _helped__ to inspire_. Saotome Ranma seemed to be in possession of some very unique and useful skills.

As she was closing the flap to her tent to get her first night's sleep on the hard ground in almost a week, the Musk prince was already lost in planning. _'If I can learn to overcome Ranma's bizarre insult technique and master my anger in the face of it, might I not then learn the lessons I need to face my father on equal terms, rather than as a child? Yes, Saotome, you are in fact infinitely more valuable than you know.'_ Still, Herb allowed herself a swell of pride that she'd only exploded into violence and fury after taking her leave. Doing so in front of Ranma would have been against her best interests. As any martial artist knows, every small improvement can be a valuable step towards mastery.

* * *

Lime was again awestruck by the terrible brilliance prince Herb had been exhibiting since leaving the training grounds and palace. He couldn't see how leaving Ranma frustrated and sputtering meaningless insults would benefit her, but here the girl-shaped boy was obsessing over the departed prince. Herb's guardian wasn't exactly able to understand just what the redhead was talking _about_, because he, too was benefiting from the current arrangement. Ranma was simply _too_ distracted in her ranting to see where the vigorous motions and gestures accentuating her speech drew Lime's eyes. There was just something hypnotic about the way those two orbs shifted and bounced beneath her shirt. That same something made it trivially easy for the normally silent and socially awkward warrior to expertly nod his head and make appreciative, acknowledging sounds during the increasingly hard-to-follow monologue. He knew, somewhere far from conscious thought, that he should have stopped and reprimanded the buxom young woman who Herb had chosen for a husband; a large part of his duty was defending the prince against verbal attacks on his, now revealed to be _her_, character. After all, what physical threat shy of a well-aimed collapsing skyscraper or tightly focused natural disaster could reasonably be expected to harm the prince? While not as hard as Lime himself, Herb had the added advantage of being able to vaporize such normally stable materials as stone. Even with all this, a very persuasive voice from within told Lime to enjoy the captivating jiggling while he could. As he was considering all this, he noticed that his pants were feeling a bit too tight, for some strange reason.

So it was that Lime and Ranma kept up their parts, the former watching with rapt attention, with the latter raving and gesticulating in supreme distraction. Lime was pleased with this, even if he suspected Ranma's pleasure depended on not recognizing the source of his own. As all good things must though, the sound of the cursed boy's very female voice and the motion of her recently confirmed to be very soft breasts came to an abrupt end. A pair of arms broke the spell Lime was under by mostly obscuring the objects monopolizing his awareness from his line of sight. Lime wasn't known for his particularly quick thinking, and in that, a deficiency of his had been correctly identified. Without ample time to carefully lay out his thoughts and arrange them in a way that he could follow without tripping over them, he was left trying to manipulate whatever information he already had connected. It came as no surprise to Lime, and wouldn't have to anyone who knew him that, when he looked up - or rather less far down - into a pair of narrowed blue eyes housing an intense anger, he could only come up with one useful fact. Ranma had asked him a question.

"What?" His monosyllabic response seemed not to have been entirely expected by the busty redhead, so she didn't hit him right away like she had when he'd grabbed her to keep her from attacking the prince. Lime secreted that away as a useful tactic for future situations like this one. Still, it might be a bit much what with the way it caused Ranma to fall flat on her face. He would have to reserve it as a desperation manoeuvre, then. Embarrassing someone like that could surely have disadvantages.

After Ranma picked herself up off the ground, breasts still partially covered by her arms, she repeated the question. There was an edge to her voice that worried Lime, but he would worry about that later. "I _just_ asked you what the hell the deal is with Herb and this prince business. Is she really a guy that got cursed like me, or something?"

Relief washed over Lime at the easy question. He grinned at the redhead because he _knew_ the answer to this. "No." Something changed about Ranma's expression; she started to show signs of aggression. Panicking a little, the Musk warrior hoped that she just wanted to know how a woman became a prince. It was a jump, but had to be better than waiting to be hit. "King Tarragon only had one child. If that child wasn't a man, they couldn't inherit the throne, the family line would end, and the Musk would have no ruler. Since Herb _has_ to be a man, she's our prince, and has to keep her actually being a woman secret."

Ranma looked to have developed a facial tic. "So," she drawled. "If I got this right, somehow _nobody's_ noticed she was a woman until today?"

"Yeah."

"How!?" The pigtailed girl's outburst nearly toppled Lime over, proving to him that he'd been right about the strength of that technique.

Putting his fingers in front of him, Herb's huge guardian began to count out how he'd figured out the deception came to pass. "Well see, little boys and little girls don't look very different when they've got clothes on, so no one noticed back then. Since Herb was royalty, she always bathed alone. Even though Herb always looked, acted, and according to Mint _smelled_ different from everyone, we thought that was because she was the only prince. When she started to get big breasts, the king sent her off to get married and get a better disguise; that's why she's always wearing that cloak now. Because she was both the only prince _and_ the only woman at the training grounds, we always wrote it off as her Dragon heritage. She was raised as a man, among men, by men, to rule men. It would be a mark against her pride if she could be discovered outside her uncovered body. And being descended from Dragons, she can't accept marks against her pride."

"...And you're gonna tell me that _any_ guy would wear their hair like that? An' dye it a bunch of different colours, but _mostly_ pink?" Lime noticed that Ranma was trying to make the truth less true by saying there were things wrong with it. Mint had done that, too, earlier that same day. Thankfully Ranma, just like Mint, was working with information too flawed to do more than be smashed aside by the simple trail of reasons and explanations Lime had painstakingly assembled.

"All the royal family's hair is the same colours," the Musk warrior explained. "And a bunch of Herb's ancestors wore their hair in that style because that's how the Chained Queen Vanilla wore hers."

"Chained Queen... who the heck is she?" Ranma paused only long enough to ask her next question. "And why would guys wanna copy a girl's hair?"

"Umm...She's the royal line's Dragon ancestor. I don't know why they copy her hair, but Herb probably does." Lime was sure he was going to be frustrated more, now. Ranma had started asking questions about things he hadn't thought about before, and there was something very important the prince had asked him to do already, namely keeping a lookout for Mint. Besides, the distracting tightness he'd been feeling had started to recede.

Showing some discomfort, Lime softly said, "I'm supposed to be watching for Mint. Go sleep some." An unfamiliar smile wormed its way onto Ranma's face, before she nodded and sauntered off toward the camp. _'Could that be an expression only women are capable of?'_

So deep in thought was the tiger clansman that the first sign of something amiss he received was a small hand on his shoulder. Lime spun without hesitation to level the sneak, his clawed hand a blur.

All of his motion died when he encountered the harried and terrified face of prince Herb's shorter bodyguard.

"We're in danger, Lime. Bad danger."

* * *

**Closing Note: A lot of talking this chapter. Next should have a bit more variety.**


	6. Chapter 6: A Land of Confusion

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I continue to own nothing Ranma 1/2._

* * *

**A Prince's Duty - Chapter 6: A Land of Confusion**

It had occurred to Lime that there might be something wrong with the air in that "Nerima" place. Everyone there that they'd dealt with had been at least a _little_ strange, and now Mint was showing signs of the same, _oddness __as the rest of them_. He reasoned that, perhaps time away from there _would_ be helpful to Ranma, as well as Herb's smaller bodyguard.

Said guard though had just _now_ appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and started to ramble on about some terrible danger, or whatnot. He was talking extremely _hurriedly_, and Lime was never very good at deciphering people's speech like that. The tiger clansman _was_ able to make out that the danger originated from some sort of _person_, as well as the fact that Mint had tried, and ultimately failed, to elude him. That _alone_ marked him as a masterful tracker; given the small Musk's speed and skills were themselves superhuman.

The rest, though, was lost on him in a flood of words, something that annoyed the larger warrior a great deal. While useless panic might have accounted for much of what was said, his partner was rarely so unhelpful. That meant there were potentially important details being lost to the wind; details that, should Mint actually have had call for his fear, were relevant to the protection of prince Herb! The wolf clansman needed to be calmed down, or he'd keep wasting valuable time and possibly transfer his panic to Lime himself.

Decision made on how to proceed, Lime calmly put a comforting hand on his partner's shoulder, and gave a confident smile, letting the smaller man know that there was no danger they couldn't handle together. He then, with something verging on gentleness, bashed Mint in the skull, sending him toppling insensate to the ground. Hefting his unconscious friend over one shoulder without the slightest effort, Lime stalked back to camp while keeping an ear out for their as-of-yet unseen mysterious tracker.

_'Herb wanted to know as soon as Mint was back,'_ he recalled in his silent return to camp. He also noted that the path he remembered _hadn't_ included the ruined, smoking remains of a pair of felled trees. _'I hope she isn't asleep yet. If she is, and I wake her up, she'll be angry__... __just like she'll be angry if I don't tell her about Mint right away! __I wonder if it__ will it slow us down more for me to be blasted now, or in the morning.' __Lime let out a sigh.__ 'Being a guard sure is tough __work__.'_

Aware of the likelihood of imminent danger before him, Lime took the time to savour the feel of walking on soft earth, amongst tall trees and untamed foliage. It had been almost a week since Herb had led them out of the wilds of China and, as much as he'd enjoyed the city for the women, and the ship for the company, he'd been overwhelmed by the press of bodies and the confined spaces. Now, not only did he have room to move, but since they'd added someone to their quest _and_ the prince had started speaking again, there was always something interesting happening or being said. It didn't hurt at all that two of his travelling companions were also _beautiful_ women, even if one wasn't _really_ a woman, and the other had secretly been one all along… _'This is complicated.'_

The memory of speaking with the small girl that was to be Herb's husband, and the way she _moved_ while speaking, was constantly drifting back to Lime's mind. He felt embarrassed that his attention had been reserved almost exclusively for the way her chest bounced. Certainly, it might have been some part of a potent martial arts technique, but his inattention may have cost him a chance to learn from Ranma's words. He suspected that had been the purpose of the entire exercise. _'I told Ranma many things, but she... he didn't tell me much at all that I can remember. Mint's __ going to be disappointed __with that. I didn't make his job any easier.'_ Lime self-consciously shifted his slight burden into what he hoped was a more comfortable position, as something of an apology.

All too soon camp was back in sight. Much was as he'd left it, from Herb's palatial tent, to the more modest, but still large one he and Mint were sharing, to the fallen logs he'd moved to provide seating by the fire pit he'd hastily dug. That there was now a fire in said pit with a sizable pot sitting above it, both being tended by the pigtailed girl, who had recently joined them, _was_ new. Also new was the tiny triangular tent on the opposite side of the fire from the two larger ones. _'It's probably what people around here are used to, looks __**way**__ too cramped to be comfortable, though.' _Shrugging his shoulders at the thought, Lime lifted his tent's curtain and dropped his fellow bodyguard on one of the bedrolls within.

Ranma's eyes were on him when he turned back, strain marring her pretty features. She spared Lime a very difficult time figuring out what was going on by calling out to him. "Hey! I'm makin' rice. What happened to the little guy?"

Lime let his pleasure at the redhead's straightforwardness show by chuckling warmly. "Mint got too excited, so he's resting for a bit. He says he got followed by some great hunter or something, but he wasn't making much sense. I'm going to tell Herb now." He scratched the side of his mouth in a display of nervousness, before enthusiastically finishing what he had to say to Ranma. "But thanks! You're helpful." With that done, the bodyguard trudged over to his master's tent.

Hoping to let the firelight reveal Herb's appearance, and whether or not she was already asleep, Lime drew back the drapes that formed most of a full side of the tent. The prince's prone form was softly illuminated, chest rising and falling steadily beneath her sheets. The metallic sheen of her shoulder guards gave away that Herb had lain down fully dressed. The still-shut eyelids and singularly peaceful cast of her features revealed that she'd already dropped off into a restful slumber. The sight ensnared his mind with the curious mixture of the warrior he'd always known, and the woman he had discovered only that day. _'Knowing what you're looking at really changes what you can see.'_

With some regret at not being able to keep watching just a little longer, Lime cleared his throat. "Mint came back, prince Herb." He spoke slowly, as he wanted to ease the heir to the Musk back to consciousness. The way her eyes shot open, reflecting the firelight, making them seem to burn with a flame of their own as they took in their surroundings, told the huge guardian that he'd failed. That intense gaze soon settled on Lime himself, and unable to match it he cast his own sight downward to get a good look at the ground.

"And of his delay?" The prince's commanding words gave away no hint that she'd been asleep mere moments ago. Now, Herb was fully awake and articulate.

Lime struggled to shake the image of the sleeping prince, which so ill-matched her current demeanour as to leave a substantial disconnect in dealing with her. _'I have to report to prince Herb. No one can __ever__ talk to sleeping Herb.' _Although coming to that realization disappointed Lime – sleeping Herb was much less scary – it allowed him to look at his prince without any of his thoughts slipping. "He was followed by a really great hunter, I think. That weak bandanna guy said he would follow us, so it could be him. He might be a better tracker than he is a fighter." Pointing a finger in the direction of his own tent, the bodyguard mumbled, "and Mint's sleeping to recover from the excitement."

Perking up at an opportunity not to be the centre of the prince's attention, Lime smiled and pulled his face away from the curtain. "Ranma's making food right now, too! Are you going to join us?"

There was a soft grunt from the tent by way of response, and a few seconds later Herb could be heard busying herself about...something. Lime was too intent on getting over to the campfire to be concerned with it. Certainly the prince wouldn't have been pleased to catch him spying on her like that. She had been quite adamant about her privacy on the way to Japan, and since arriving and being revealed, she had been only a _little_ more open. That Akane girl hadn't revealed much about herself in their conversation, so it stood to reason it must be a female thing. _'Searching for a husband would probably bring that out.'_

After retrieving some bowls from his pack, Lime sat down for the simple meal that was being prepared. He ate without saying a word, and made sure to keep his eyes downcast when Herb finally joined them. Personal guard or no, he had no intention of being on the receiving end of the prince's unpredictable bouts of physical violence, _or_ kindness any more than was needed.

As the meal finished, Ranma and Herb retired to their tents. Finally on his own now, Lime stood and began patrolling the clearing, looking for any signs of their apparent stalker. It would cut into his sleep-time, but between preventing whoever had followed Mint from finding the whole group unprepared, and giving the Musk warrior time with his thoughts on this strangest of days, he reasoned it would be worth it.

* * *

_'Why am I so bothered by that?'_ Herb questioned herself while brushing her hair back into proper shape following her brief sleep. Working out a tangle, she growled out, "Lime is my vassal. It is natural – _expected – _that he should harbour some fear of me. It is that _other_ expression he wore that I should be upset about.

_'But I'm not,'_ the Musk prince concluded internally, tossing her brush back onto her small pack and replacing the elaborate hair ornament that held back most of her thick mane. _'All I could think about after my initial surprise at being awakened was how __**fine**__ it would be to see people looking at me that way more often.'_ Shaking the memory from her head, and willing into being a feeling of disgust, Herb stood then parted her tent's curtains.

Outside, Mint was sleepily looking between the three tents he'd been guarding for, presumably, half the night. He started and affected a pleasant grin on seeing Herb stepping into view. For her part, the Musk Dynasty's heir was doing her best not to let her body shiver from the chill of the predawn air that was creeping into her bones. She would have sworn that the mountains of home were colder than _this_. Within seconds she had seated herself by the fire to warm up without showing a loss of control.

"You're up early, prince. I haven't even started preparing breakfast yet!" The small guard's forced enthusiasm wasn't as good as the real thing for lifting Herb's spirits, but it was a start, and a valiant effort. He didn't look rested enough to do too much more.

Putting on her best polite but commanding smile, Herb said, "You should get to it, then. And wake Lime as well; we are going to perform some endurance training."

When her guard had turned to rouse his partner, Herb scooted closer to the fire to let it warm her better. _'I was letting myself get too used to getting out of a warm bed to a warm room,'_ the Musk prince chastised herself. That, and many other comforts of civilization had to be pushed aside to prevent growing too relaxed while this close to her goal. When a bleary-eyed Lime crawled out from his tent, sighted her, and blanched though, Herb put concerns of her own weakness aside.

She was now fairly sure she understood what the feeling inspired by her guard's fear of her was. It was some close relative of disappointment. No one but the Musk showed that _cowardice_. Ku Lon had been respectfully cautious, as befitted an elder of the tribe of Hero Women. The men at the Cat Café had been alternatively formal and awkward. The young women there had been almost disinterested in Herb. All those had, curiously, felt much better to the prince than her guards' fear.

Ranma's _defiance_, in particular, had been invigorating. He, or she, had yet to fail to meet Herb's stare despite the irrational fear that caused in most people. Wanting to fight someone, to spar with them verbally, as well as physically, was another of the new experiences that had presented themselves since leaving home. _'Or could that experience also be related to being a woman?'_ It was a struggle not to tear out her hair with that thought. _'I will drive myself mad asking such questions! Little wonder that damned booklet pleads with the reader not to stress over whether and how the curse is affecting them.'_

Herb nodded at Lime's morning greeting, and used the time while the burly bodyguard was clearing the sleep from his mind to worry about the much more physical effects of her curse. _'At the pace we're setting,'_ she considered bitterly, _'it will be no less than __two weeks__ before we find the kettle. Unless I am very fortunate indeed, that means another "period", and probably soon.'_ Scowling at the discomfort and indignity of it all, she consoled herself in that at least she would have time to overcome her fascination with the other, still sleeping, cursed young man.

Her larger vassal was looking nervous again, and while Herb was well aware that her displeasure was in great part to blame for that reaction, she was far past caring about his reasons. She rose and motioned to be followed. "Come Lime, we must train." She reasoned that, by improving herself in the Art, she would be _less_ unhappy, and perhaps that would lead to her vassal cowering and cringing around her _less frequently_. The content of the training might strain the warrior some, but the workout would help him get back to normal as well.

When the pair had nearly reached the edge of the clearing, the prince turned back to Mint, who had started to pull out cooking supplies. "Go over the map with Ranma, and set us on a path that will lead through a town with a shopping mall in the next few days. We are short on supplies, and food that is not rice. Wake him up to help you soon." When the small warrior ducked his head in acquiescence, Herb tuned out what he might have to say and walked into the treeline.

Herb's mind, though, continued to be abuzz with concerns as she walked, the conflict with her bodyguards and the nature of her curse featuring principally in her thoughts. _'No wonder it was decided not to keep women among the Musk. They are far, far more trouble and expense than they are worth, and have such unfortunate effects on men. I am only one due to magic, and even so I have thrown my most loyal vassals into confusion. The worst part, bar none, is how much of that is __**only**__ my fault. Certainly, I have been under some... pressure. Even still, it does not follow that I should have been so threatening with them. They are scared because I ____**i**__**ntentionally**__ frightened them to help maintain distance and prevent their discovery of my curse. Now, following its discovery, I am behaving closer to normal and they're unprepared for it; they keep expecting me to lash out at them.'_

_'__But__ how the hell do I convince them that I won't do that? How do I regain their trust?'_ Plants and foliage, vines and growths of every sort and all fell away under Herb's scything hand as she walked. She paid none of them any mind, so deep was her meditation on the question of how to get Lime and Mint to treat her somewhat normally. Even if her new form precluded things going back to the way they were, they could at least act with the pride that befitted Musk warriors.

A heavy sigh escaped her mouth when she gave up on completely solving the problem immediately. It would have to be a gradual thing, just like its creation had been. The current modestly wooded, slightly uneven ground would serve the stated purpose for bringing Lime out here, as well. Herb hoped that a gesture of openness and sincerity would be a start on the mending process. "I think this is a fine place to start, and far enough from camp not to risk damaging anything, don't you?" Raising an eyebrow to punctuate her question, Herb got her first good look at Lime since venturing out of the clearing.

The large man seemed to have been lost as deep in thought as she herself, given his complete surprise at being addressed at all. His eyes darted every which way to try to take in the surroundings, but conspicuously failed to rest on Herb for any length of time. "S-Sorry, my prince, I don't know what kind of training we're doing."

"Simple, I am going to be working at improving my stamina with higher form techniques. You will be working at evasion and rapid strikes if you are successful, and body hardening if you are not." She gave what she thought was a reassuring smile, but was disheartened again when Lime withdrew with a defensive growl. Rubbing her temples at the well-remembered reaction, Herb groaned out, "this is _not_ a punishment, damn you. It is training, and I do not intend you any more harm than is strictly necessary for our mutual advancement in the Art."

Sensing that Lime was relaxing, Herb gave a short, mischievous laugh before throwing back her cloak and stretching out. "Warm up properly, this will hurt if I'm doing it right."

_'There,'_ she thought with deep satisfaction._ 'Now __**that**__ was where you were supposed to start sweating. He's just getting all the cues wrong. I can retrain him to be more aware, surely. And maybe if he knows better when he's supposed to be worried, he'll know better when to just be glad to be in my company without me needing to be asleep for it.'_

* * *

Ranma was _almost_ tricked into thinking it would be a good morning by a very few pleasant abnormalities from her normal routine. She was not wet, she was not remotely airborne, and no one was yelling at her. She was being woken up gently by a few rays of sunlight, and the scent of cooking rice was wafting to her nose, promising that food would be in her very near future. Of course, good things don't always last. Rolling onto her side triggered a pressure against her breasts that said, wet or not, she would be starting the day as a girl. That wasn't such a rarity that it could really concern her, so she shifted a bit more to get comfortable. Her fingertips brushing against dirt in the process _was_ however.

_'Weird. Kasumi never lets the place get dirty.' _Cracking open her eyes, Ranma spied the dark, faintly translucent walls of her tent. She'd spent the better part of her life sleeping in it, in some place or other, but after so long with the Tendos, it served as something of an alarm to get her mind started. _'Why __the __heck__ am I sleeping outside?'_

She slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing the sleep from her eyes even as the gears in her head struggled to dislodge whatever was gumming them up. Her blanket slipping down let the cool morning air greet Ranma, doing wonders to reestablish her consciousness while inspiring her to pull the covers back around herself until she could put something more on. _'Stupid girl body can't handle the damn cold at all.'_

In a flash, shirt was fastened over undershirt, and pants were secured over boxers. Toeing on her shoes, Ranma stepped out to greet the day.

The sight of a very small boy – one who was still frustratingly taller than her – with a hat made of a wolf's ears and tail, hunched over a map a short way from the camp's fire brought the events of yesterday crashing back into the cursed boy's consciousness. "Aww, damn it," she whined, settling in for a full, miserable day spent entirely as a girl.

Mint, who it appeared had been studying the map quite intensely, turned with some surprise and, oblivious to her misery, greeted Ranma with a big smile and a gesture to join him. His eyes, however, looked unusually droopy. _'That's weird,'_ she thought to herself as she approached the little warrior, _'wasn't that guy asleep before any of us?'_

"Good morning, master Ranma, I was hoping you'd wake up to help me with correcting our course. I am not at all familiar with the lay of the land here."

"Uhh, yeah, mornin' to you too... Oh... what the hell! Is that circle where we're heading?"

Scratching his head at Ranma's exclamation of incredulity, Mint only nodded.

"That's almost two weeks away on foot. A week-and-a-half if we rush!" Ranma had grabbed the Musk warrior by the shoulders and started shaking him, trying desperately to get through the importance of actually _hurrying_. "I _ain't_ gonna be stuck a girl that long! Why didn't we just take the rail if you knew it was so far?"

Head spinning and eyes slightly unfocused, Mint answered while intermittently working to clear his vision. "Ahh… Prince Herb explained that when we were trying to come to Japan. You see, we don't have some thing called umm, _'paperwork',_ so we can't really use most forms of transport legally. Hehe, it's a really funny story how it happened, too.

"But, see, I need your help charting our course_,_ so that we pass through a town in the next couple of days to get food. It needs a shopping mall of some sort for some supplies we'll need as well." He was now stabbing vigorously at the map with his left index finger.

Begrudgingly letting go the train idea for the time being, Ranma shrugged and drew a line with her own finger that would take them through one town she and her father had stayed at for a while during the ten years away from home, they could probably make it that afternoon if they weren't terribly slow. "So what do we have to stop by a big shopping centre for, anyway?" She had the distinct impression there was much Herb wasn't telling her guards. They could have stopped at literally _any_ open market or grocer for food, and she couldn't for the life of her imagine what they could be missing between her own pack and the man-sized monstrosity the big goon, Lime, hauled around. That the small goon, Mint, was completely baffled by the question helped not at all.

"Well, maybe it is because she is a woman," the Musk suggested tentatively. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, and then went to check on the rice. "I have heard that, and this is only a rumour, women like shopping. Many signs all over the cities we have been through say that those shopping malls are excellent places to _do_ shopping. Are these things true, master Ranma?" The bags under Mint's eyes practically vanished when he spun in excitement to pose that question.

"You – err – that is," Ranma found herself stumbling in face of the only _slightly_ larger boy's glowing enthusiasm. _'That's an easy one, right? I don't think I know any girls that don't like to shop. Heck, even Ucchan does, now and again __anyway__.' _Made sure of her response, she bobbed her head. "Yeah, I guess they kinda do. And if you're into that sort of thing, those stores have got a load of stuff, and the ice cream's – yeek!" The pigtailed girl's answer faded into a shriek when Mint vanished from where he was standing to kneel in front of her seat, hands clasped over her own and stars in his eyes. She threw herself back off the log she'd been on to get free, heart racing as she stared up at the now sheepish boy in shock. _'What is __**with**__ these guys? This kid makes me feel slow as the tomboy.'_

"Keep your hands to yourself!" Ranma gasped out in protest against Mint's uninvited touch. For his part, the Musk warrior winced, backed up a pace, and then started rubbing the back of his head, all the while with a bashful grin plastered on his face.

If he managed to keep his distance, that would be just fine by her. What she didn't expect was for the small, but absurdly fast warrior to sketch a bow, and then break into excited babbling once more. "Oh, I'm sorry if I offended you, master Ranma. I just couldn't contain how happy I am to have you along with us. I – you see, we're _lost_ when it comes to dealing with master Herb now." He fiddled with the wolf ears on his cap for a moment, before checking on the rice again. Several times the little bodyguard looked about ready to say something more, but every one of those ended with a pained expression and a returned attention to the food.

Frustrated, but unwilling to give up on learning what Mint was trying to say, Ranma tried her hand at some feigned camaraderie. "Hey, don't ya worry about it, buddy, Mint." She gave the young man of the Musk a moment to register the use of his name before continuing. "I mean, we're gonna be seeing a lot of each-other for the next little while. Might as well talk like friends, ya know, bein' as we'll be so close."

The way the small Musk's eyelids shot open, fit to allow the orbs behind them to fall out of their sockets, and the way a fierce redness crept up his face let Ranma know in no uncertain terms that her message had been received with some unwanted _extra _content. Feeling embarrassed and sickened all at once from being looked at in _that_ manner again, she fell back on one of her best protests for that sort of thing. "Quit starin' like that already! I'm a _guy_, damn it!"

The small warrior waved his arms frantically for a moment, before once more settling on an apologetic bow. Eyes downcast, he chuckled and weakly mumbled out, "it's because we aren't familiar with women." He let out a sigh and seemed more at ease despite that his ears were still crimson. "Lime's _useless_ if he doesn't know enough about something, and I'm really not much better in the long run. I've... thought about how strange and... awful... it would be to have your curse, and I'm really trying not to displease you, but it _is_ hard. I know Lime feels the same, so please accept our sincerest regret for anything we have, or may yet do to upset you, especially about your cursed form."

Ranma was rendered speechless by the thoroughly unexpected and startlingly complete apology. _'And this guy says he's __bad__ with women? I bet if I could apologize like __that__ even Akane'd accept it. Like, half the time__, maybe__! It's a _way_ better technique than the Crouch of the Fierce Tiger.'_ A thought occurred to her that this might actually be a _brilliant_ training trip. Here were three practitioners of techniques even Cologne wasn't familiar with, each one potent enough to stand up to some of the better fighters in Nerima. _'Including me,'_ the memory of a fight still needing a satisfactory rematch surfaced, causing Ranma to pout briefly. She decided she would definitely con a few friendly sparring bouts out of her current travelling companions to help prepare to actually face Herb again.

Mint kept explaining, unaware of the thoughts of the redhead in front of him. "The really difficult part is that you're a godsend to us, curse and all. You see, you _are_ a man and _not_ royalty, so Lime and I can understand you a little, even _if_ you turn _into_ a beautiful woman. But because you _are_ a beautiful woman too, one with _much_ more experience with women than any of us, you will much better be able to understand prince Herb, like you did with the shopping!" He fairly gushed out the last part of his explanation. "This will make everything a lot easier for all of us, and is bound to make the prince less unhappy too! Life is better and safer when she is not throwing ki blasts at us outside of sparring."

Processing how to feel about all the Musk warrior said was a bit taxing for Ranma. In one sense, she had been complimented and told how great she was. Unfortunately one of the main thrusts of that 'greatness' was about being a cute girl, which in particularly prideful moments she was happy to admit her cursed body really _was_. _Trapped_ in the form of _that_ cute girl, though, around some barely known, _if_ apologetic pervert first thing in the morning only a minute or so after having to _escape_ from said pervert was definitely not a safe situation to accept such compliments. "I. Am. _Not_. A. _Girl_!" Ranma cried, trying and failing to keep her voice's pitch low throughout; sounding so obviously _like_ a girl always made that statement sound a _lot_ weaker to her own ears, and she imagined those of everyone else.

Mint actually had the audacity to look more confused than chastised by that statement. He snapped his fingers like he'd thought of something and started clarifying as though he were already in agreement with Ranma the whole time. "Right. You are _not_ a girl. You are a man who has been cursed to turn into a woman when struck with cold water, only to return to normal with hot water. The hot water does not work now because you were affected by water from the Locking Ladle, so you are stuck as a woman even though you were originally a man, and we are attempting to help you get back to being able to be a man by finding the Open Water Kettle!" The recitation of her situation caused the pigtailed martial artist to blink and nod as the small warrior paused after each major point to check that he'd been right. In so doing, he also removed the pot from above the fire and started cutting up turnips pulled from within Lime's enormous backpack. "But," Mint continued, "that is too much to say just to refer to what you are right now, which is a woman." The small Musk was too busy slicing vegetables into neat, attractive portions to _see_ Ranma reach toward his neck, hands shaking with rage.

Yet again, Mint was saved by the same wagging tongue that had so nearly sealed his doom. "Now that breakfast is ready, can you get prince Herb, and Lime? They went into the woods over that way to train, and the prince wants us to move pretty far each day. You will also save Lime from being hurt worse than he already is by doing that. We would all _really_ appreciate it."

Having just been made aware of the opportunity to observe the fighting techniques of two of the Musk warriors at once without risking her _own_ hide, Ranma reined in the violent impulse to choke the life from the cook. She would play it cool, for the moment anyway. "I guess." The only thing betraying the pigtailed girl's actual interest in doing as Mint had asked was the dead sprint she broke into after withdrawing past the treeline, following a path of neatly sheared foliage.

The night before had been very disappointing in terms of knowledge yielded about Herb's weaknesses. Rather than staying up late to perform some sort of training technique that would reveal the source of her power, or carrying on out loud about what made her so great and how she could be defeated, the Musk prince had kept quiet, done little, and gone to sleep early. To Ranma, that felt a little unfair; she'd always presumed keeping quiet and applying discretion was a strength exclusive to herself!

A loud thump, followed by a thunderous cracking noise further aided Ranma to correctly identify where the Musk were training. Her eyes were drawn to a great tree limb sailing high overhead, a man in tiger-skins clutching it against himself. The flight was short-lived though, and the pigtailed martial artist drew to a full stop when she saw a streak of brilliant energy arc above and into the airborne Musk warrior, rocketing him downwards to culminate in the sound of a heavy and painful impact with the ground some two-dozen meters from her own position.

Ranma's mind was more engaged with analyzing the ki blast that had just smashed Lime than with worrying about the guard's condition. Her thoughts were torn between two slightly conflicting trains. The very tactically relevant train noted the impressive range and accuracy of the attack, and found that its power compared favourably against Ryoga's basic Lion's Roar Shot. The other could not get over the fact that Herb fired white ki blasts with _streamers_ of _pink_ and gold, and no one at all had been clued in to her being a girl until the day before. The tactical analysis eventually won majority share of mental resources with the well-reasoned argument, _'I could _never_ live it down if I got my ass handed to me by an attack __that__ girly.'_

A cry of, "fool!" soon cut through the woods. Herb's colourful form descended from the trees and made its way in the direction of the fallen warrior. Ranma shrugged, and followed along discreetly, not precisely sneaking but certainly not making any effort to stand out. For the trouble she got to witness Lime sitting cross-legged in a small crater and smacking the side of his head to get dirt out of his ears even as the red-faced Musk prince stomped over to stand directly above him. "Has your brief vacation from the training grounds atrophied your skills so severely that you can fail to make use of an advantage you'd already taken?" Something in Herb's voice reminded the unseen martial artist very strongly of her own father's training methods.

"Sorry, master Herb," the huge man mumbled dejectedly.

"There are neither apologies nor forgiveness for ineptitude. _Repair_ it. You will tell me how that should have gone."

A pause stretched out with time kept by Herb's fingers tapping her own arm, before Lime responded. "I should have kept close to the ground and used cover when you started attacking."

"That _is_ how it should have begun. Whether or not you had managed to evade the attack, you still would have possessed _leverage_ to make use of your considerable strength offensively or defensively. Instead, your idiotic hop allowed me to send you tumbling helplessly skyward. What next?"

"I did right to grab that branch to slow myself down and get a tool, but if I could have grabbed the tree I would have been safer."

"Agreed. You made use of the environment you were presented as best you were able, considering your first error. Your next mistake negated anything you gained _from_ that action, however. What was it?"

Her father Genma's voice from many years in the past drifted through Ranma's head. _'When you're up in the air, boy, you have to use every element of your environment, even your enemy's own attacks, to create and redirect your momentum. Choice of when to rise and fall, how fast and in which direction, is what sets aerial combat apart from the simple leaping strikes lesser martial artists must rely on.' _The corners of the redhead's lips rose in a self-assured grin. Even if she had to accept that Herb might be a real challenge, here was evidence that at least one of the goons wasn't at her skill level.

Said goon was growling halfheartedly as he replied. "I should have done more than putting the branch between me and your attack. But I did not even think to at the time." Lime then bowed his head and drew in the dirt with his claw-like fingernails.

Herb's right hand rose to massage her temple, and her left reached out to help her bodyguard climb out of his small crater. Her exhausted voice droned out, "We'll go another round." Some life returned when she entered a loose fighting stance. "What you should have done, by the way, was use that tree limb along with my attack to redirect your fall at a less steep angle either near me to quickly level an attack of your own, or distant to sneak up on me. Against myself, or any other combatant with numerous powerful, reliable ranged weapons at their disposal, you must never allow yourself to be fighting in the open from further than you can strike."

The big man nodded to indicate he'd understood, but then asked, "Shouldn't we see what Ranma wants first, master Herb?" First Lime's, then Herb's eyes turned to look in her direction; their expressions were one of relief and impatience, respectively. Pouting, the pigtailed girl shuffled out of what she'd thought was an excellent hiding place.

"I... sorta came to tell ya breakfast was ready. Jus' didn't wanna interrupt or nothin'." Kicking dirt and looking up through her bangs with a shy smile, Ranma observed the results of her distraction from having been caught spying. The big guard's idiot grin proved that the technique was a success on that front. It was a little disappointing that the only effect on the Musk heir was to add confusion to her impatience, but confusion was better than nothing. _'The cute little girl act may not be your weakness, Herb, but I'll find what is. You've given me all the time in the world to figure it out, too.'_

"Well, see you at breakfast!" The redhead spun on her heels, and walked as quickly as her legs would carry her back to camp, and food.

Herb matched her pace but didn't seem inclined to start conversation. Lime trailed behind, nursing an unenviable collection of bruises, cuts, scrapes, and burns; he was also very visibly favouring his right leg. It looked like the prince had worked him over mercilessly, and _she_ wasn't even sporting slightly dishevelled hair. _'If these are the only hours Herb practises at,' _Ranma thought mournfully, _'my dream of sleeping in late on this trip is ruined!'_

Just before the group returned to the clearing, where Mint was tidying up, the dragon prince put a hand on Ranma's shoulder, and leaned in to be heard by her alone. "I would like you to train with Lime tonight. It could not be more clear that he would learn much from your strengths, and I have every expectation that you will learn as much from him." With that, Herb gave a conspiratorial smirk, then separated to acquire her breakfast.

_'You know, I don't even think the princess has _heard_ of being refused. She doesn't just talk like the __Kuno's, She __thinks__ like them! But she isn't deluded at all, is she? She really _does_ have that much power and respect. She __**is**__ different from normal people, more than just her crazy eyes. And how the hell does someone have dragon ancestors, anyway? I have got to get them to explain the whole "Musk Dynasty" thing to me better. And what's the deal with them not having girls anyway?'_ Eating breakfast may have slowed the pace of Ranma's thoughts, but it did nothing to stop the questions growing in number.

* * *

To Herb's mind, the day was getting progressively better. It had started on a fairly low point, with being forced to contemplate her own condition and the effects it was having both on her and her bodyguards, but rapidly picked up with the better-than-expected results of sparring with Lime, and Mint's filling, if unfortunately bland, breakfast.

Now? Now she had spent half the day walking and discussing the relative merits of martial arts styles and techniques with someone who had been exposed to a truly staggering variety from all across Asia. Some of the styles Ranma spoke of were serious, functional arts and some were oddities such as Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, whose only possible combat application was very briefly confusing one's foes through absurdly limited movements. It almost felt a shame for that to be brought to an end by reaching an overlook with a view of their destination. Still, with over a week of travel time left, there would be plenty of opportunities to continue where they'd left off.

There, spread out below them and some short distance away, was another city. This one was much less intimidating than Tokyo, which seemed to stretch past every horizon at some points but for the reassuring presence of the mountain named Fuji. That their path was able to cross such a place so soon after leaving another one was a shock to the Musk prince. _'Are these islands covered in more of those than wild places?'_ The question sent a thrill of fear up and down her spine. _'Could it ever be the same in China? We will not remain forgotten, or even hidden, if our lands are only a short walk from the cities; what will happen when we are so exposed?'_

Her mounting distress was not lost on her guardians, even if they were not aware of the reason behind it. Worry was writ plain on their faces, observed out of the corner of her eye. Mint's unsubtle frown was suddenly replaced by a tight 'o' that twisted into a smirk. This was a warning sign of something Herb had learned to dread over the many years of the small warrior's service; he was having an idea. Melancholy thoughts on the future of her people were swept from her mind as the heir to the Musk Dynasty rushed to find some way to head off _whatever _her bodyguard might suggest.

"Me and Lime will look around for the best place to set up camp, so you can prepare for the expedition into town!" The words came at lightning speed, and no sooner had the small warrior fired them off than he had raced out of sight with his partner in tow, leaving the worried prince alone with Ranma and the view.

For a moment that seemed enough to hold both their attention, then the Neriman martial artist took a clearly forced 'socially relaxed' stance, one leg crossing behind the other, hands joined at the back of her head and rocking back on her heel. "Eh, so... Herb?"

Trying not to wince at the awkward conversation starter after such a day of relatively easy speech, Herb turned to half face Ranma. "What is it?"

"Just wanted to talk and all, see if ya noticed... you know, that your guards were acting a little funny?"

"I may have at that. You don't know them, so how could you be aware if their behaviour is unusual?"

"Mint kinda gave away why they were acting weird."

That caught Herb's attention. _'How has he earned their trust in just two days? He's ____**dangerous**____.' _Turning to look the shorter girl in the eye, the Musk prince kept a thin smile on her face as she asked nonchalantly, "and why, Ranma, is that?"

"It's the girl thing."

"Explain better."

"Well, guys have to act differently around girls, right?"

Herb was both hating the direction this 'conversation' was going, and growing increasingly impatient with the time it was taking Ranma to get to a point. It seemed to be having an effect on the pigtailed girl, who was now sweating profusely. Marshaling all her self-control, she nodded rather than making a more hostile remark.

"So, they're getting used to how to act around you, now. I... uh... I've _kinda_ been there myself, once or twice. It ain't like ya gotta _stop_ hitting them when they do perverted things, but maybe you could try explaining stuff to 'em first?" Ranma looked very much like the peddlers Herb had seen in saying that, hands splayed out before her with palms open to the sky as if displaying some fine cloth. For some reason, she dropped that persona with a deep scowl, then shook her head and made a tight fist with one of her small hands. "Definitely kick their asses if they don't get it."

Creasing her brows subtly, Herb tried to understand how the redhead's own experience could relate to the lack of trust her guards were displaying. _'If Ranma is to be believed, then it's linked to my being in... _being_ a woman at present. Are men and women so challenged in trusting one-another? Could that be another reason I am having an easier time speaking to him, or her, than my own servants right now? The guidebook did make mention that some sort of "sexual tension" could manifest even among those aware of the curse.' _Concentration was rapidly replaced by horror, though, when the Musk prince thought on the deeper implications of Ranma's explanation, and her use of the word perverted. _'Lime and Mint are thinking about me... as a woman... as men.'_

Shaking herself, Herb turned her attention back outward, and with great trepidation asked, "and what were your own experiences? Did they generally 'get it'?"

If anything the redhead's scowl only deepened. "Not very often." A look of disgust turned to one of shock, leaving Herb wondering how much more variety Ranma could display in one conversation. "It can't be never, can it? Jeez, no wonder Akane always just hits me... I ain't doing a very good job convincing ya not to keep scaring the piss outta your guards, am I?"

"Not as such, no. Why would you even try to advise me to be 'gentle' if that has never worked for you?"

"Well, guys don't really enjoy it when girls are always jumping to conclusions and hitting them over stuff that's usually just a misunderstanding anyway. I mean, I ain't no perv, and I don't like it any when girls are always getting funny ideas about me for no good reason." She stopped when she noticed Herb's still inquisitive features. "Look, you're already a scary dragon-princess; you don't need being a violent maniac to give you more trouble getting along with guys."

Herb gave Ranma a lidded glare while clenching and unclenching her left fist at her side, struggling to maintain control of her temper in face of the pigtailed girl's towering presumptions. _'Ku Lon must only see him returned in relatively good condition. So long as the impertinent bastard can heal from what I do to him in a few weeks, I'll be fine. Beating him within an inch of his life would do much to relieve my stress, and it seems he's used to it.'_

Ranma, unaware of what was going on in Herb's mind, continued talking. "OK, you're weird, but you've been nice, and good about listening to what I had to say. I'll bet any guy would treat you alright if you acted that way with them. Hell, despite that dragon thing you've got going on, I _still_ think you're kind of cute."

Herb's blood froze, her lips pressed together until they were white, and she could not find her voice to so much as protest. With a monumental force of will, the Musk heir turned her back on Ranma and began reclaiming conscious control of her breathing. Seeking a way to escape this situation without losing any more of her composure, Herb began walking toward the stream the group had recently passed, not looking back. With the colour in her cheeks being as high as it was, the situation could only be worsened by turning to end it. Still, she had to say something to keep the fool from following her, or worse, saying anything else. "You blather too much. I am going to wash before we head into that city; do not interrupt me!"

She was mechanically going through a set of very familiar motions once she'd arrived at the brook. She placed her small travel sack on the ground, unbuttoned one of its pouches, and removed from it a bowl, a block of soap, and a facecloth. With practised ease, she seated herself on a dry rock, filled the bowl with water, flaked some of the soap off into it, and mixed them together.

_'What is that fool even trying to do? Getting along with men! Cuteness!' _Cold, soapy water and rough cloth on her face helped to get Herb past aimless anger and indignation. _'He makes a great fuss about my current sex and how I ought to behave, but seems rather oblivious to the fact that __**she**__ shares it. Is it possible he's still resisting the most obvious impacts of the curse? If so, it must be putting him through hell, the Locking Ladle not the worst of it. Maybe I should ask him about that when he's stopped being quite so annoying.'_ A few handfuls of clean stream water served to rinse away the soap and stains from her visage.

Herb unbuttoned her tunic, folding it neatly on a dry patch of ground. Immediately after starting to wash her upper torso she groaned. _'Not that I'm any better,' _she thought bitterly. _'__I spend __over a month hiding this body completely, and then I go and conceal that I'm even cursed from the Amazon hag! I haven't told Ranma __either__; __**obviously**__ he still thinks I __**am**__ a woman, and nothing more. Little wonder Lime was laughing about that marriage comment yesterday.' _Squeezing her eyes firmly shut, Herb moved onto her breasts, wishing that 'out of sight, out of mind' were a natural law. _'But how can I possibly __**say**__ it? Even if he has the same curse, __**he**__ at least has to have a better excuse for acquiring it than being a careless oaf._

_Perhaps I can ask Mint to explain for me? He's listened to enough stories to know how to blunt my foolishness when he tells of it.' _Standing to shuck her pants and loincloth, adding them to her shirt in a pile, she let out a bitter laugh. _'It might not be too much to hope that he can think of a _good_ excuse for this.'_ A self-deprecating snort tore free from the prince's nostrils. _'Little chance of that. It'll be some form of retribution for laughing at __**his**__ misfortunes back at the Cat Cafe when he mocks me. I have to __find a better way to hold my temper than strategic withdrawal, or he won't survive the week.'_

Herb had only just started cleaning her lower body, silently cursing the inconvenience of internal genitalia, when she heard a high, curious voice call out from the treeline just beside her. "Master Herb? Are you..." The rest of Mint's question died in a rapid and uncontrolled exhalation. The Musk heir whipped her head around to find her guard's glazed-over expression at sighting her unobstructed profile. Herb's face went crimson from embarrassment and without so much as a second thought she sent a wall of energy into the young man that propelled him back out of sight and also out of consciousness. A few short, sharp breaths to clear away the red haze that had overtaken her, and Herb was able to coherently say, "if you are out there as well, Lime, your life is dependant on your ability to keep your eyes shut and convince me that you saw nothing."

The muffled "yes, prince Herb" from near where Mint had been sent sprawling confirmed Herb's suspicions. Quickly finishing her ablutions free of distracting contemplation, she dried herself off, dressed fully, and hurried to where her guards were waiting, one with hands covering his eyes, and the other looking too dazed to do much of anything.

"You can open your eyes now, Lime." The prince's grunted permission had Lime removing his hands from his face, but keeping his gaze firmly on the ground and their feet. It almost made _her_ feel bad about her actions, instead of angry at the pair for spying on her while she was bathing. _'What could have possessed them to do that? It's clear they're starting to see, and react to me as a woman, but they are guards to a Musk prince! It should be unthinkable that they would stoop so low as to peep at me in the nude.'_ A moment of hesitation in her mental tirade presented itself. _'If it's unthinkable then, perhaps, I shouldn't think it. They had no way to know what I was doing if they hadn't first spoken to Ranma. They might have enjoyed the view, as much as that troubles me, but it's __**my**__ fault they got it.'_

With a long-suffering sigh and a dismissive wave of her hand, Herb grumbled out, "Just go back to where we left Ranma, Lime. I will handle Mint, and we will see each-other again shortly. Make sure to plan out our expedition while you wait." From the large man's bowed head and brisk retreat, Herb gathered that she'd done a fair job giving him a clear order to carry out, instead of worrying about her. Mint would take longer.

To the prince's great pleasure, it took less than a minute of gently slapping her small guard's face for his eyes to come back in focus. What crossed his features when they did though was a curious mixture of horror and wonder, as well as a thin trickle of blood emerging from his right nostril. Putting that aside for later, Herb helped her bodyguard to a sitting position and squatted before him so he could only look at her scarlet eyes. "Mint? I am right to trust you, am I not? Your loyalty is above reproach?" At the slightly charred figure's hurried affirmative response, she favoured him with a playful smile. "Yes, I thought as much. Then I am in no danger of you shaming me when I ask that you explain to Ranma why I am really here and after the Open Water Kettle in a way that doesn't make me sound too foolish. I hope it will help curb some of his habits that are making it hard for me not to endanger him. Any voice but my own would be better for this, but I think yours might be best. Hopefully he will not take my dishonesty too badly."

Gulping, and staring transfixed up at Herb's face, Mint managed to work some moisture into his mouth. "Y- you want me to tell him everything, my prince? I do not expect it, but what do I do if he does not take it well?"

After giving the matter a moment's thought, the Musk prince shook her head and waved off the concern. "Then, my loyal guard, I will be disappointed in him as well as myself. He _should_ be used to the situation given his history, but I leave to your discretion how to best explain it. Do not disappoint me yourself." In the space between heart-beats, the small warrior gave a nod and took off. But for extensive training with him, Herb doubted she would've known that he'd headed straight to where Ranma was likely still standing. It took several more long minutes of washing and _starting_ to dry her hair before she made her way back herself.

On arrival, she saw Lime staring off into space, _'or is it Ranma's backside?'_ and the redheaded martial artist herself was staring at the ground while mumbling something under her breath. Hoping this wasn't a bad sign, Herb ploughed through the awkward scene. "Show me the camp before we head into the city." The command redirected Lime's attention as he hurried to do what he'd been told, while Ranma continued to mumble, following the tiger clansman but keeping from looking directly at Herb. _'That could have gone worse,'_ Herb winced internally, trying to give away none of her concern and displeasure.

Their campsite turned out to be a cozy looking break in the trees beside a few boulders. The Musk equipment and tents were already set up, but Ranma held onto her own pack still. When Herb managed to catch a glimpse of the Neriman's eyes, there was betrayal there which should have been out of place; they had only known each-other for a day! Still, the other curse victim had her own secret revealed right at the start. Herb resolved to explain the reasons behind her subterfuge on the walk through town. _'Yes, that will be much less uncomfortable than openly talking about feminine undergarments. If only I were a better liar, getting him to open up to and trust me would be _so_ much easier.'_

"Alright, Herb," Lime began looking down at some scratchings he had made in the dirt. "I will wait here to keep the campsite safe. Mint will go shopping for food since he does the cooking, while carrying the Ladle since he can outrun that strange hunter he mentioned, even if he can't hide from him. You and Ranma will find those supplies you really wanted but did not explain. We will all meet up here by the time the moon is a third of the way across the sky." He looked back up to her, then. "Do you agree with my schedule, prince?"

"That will suffice, thank you," Herb nodded in acceptance. The simple acknowledgement of effort put a happy, silly grin on the warrior's face and set him to emitting a brief, base purr at the way her breast had nodded along with her. A very short war was fought between her fury from being leered at, and her satisfaction that she could as easily steal Lime's attention as Ranma did. When she recognized this, she fought off a separate urge to cry out in terror at what was becoming of her. _'I am losing my mind, or what little of it I already had. It doesn't take a legendary sage to know not to enter Jusenkyo. Even Lime and Mint know better.'_

Turning on her heels, the Musk prince escaped from yet another uncomfortable situation.

* * *

Ranma's mind was swimming with an entirely different set of processes. Very advanced and heavily overworked damage-control specialized heuristics were busily classifying and planning for likely, unlikely, and some seemingly impossible outcomes of the current addition to the ongoing crisis that was Ranma's life. Various pieces of information concerning relationships with females were seeing overtime use in order to generate proper responses to the potential advances of her new would-be suitor.

_'OK,'_ Ranma reasoned, _'she _isn't_ engaged to me, but wants to be. That puts her in the Kodachi class, which means that my honour, my family honour, and her honour will all be completely intact when I turn her down. But she worries Cologne, and that's impossible. The old ghoul even gives _me _trouble. Maybe she studied the Lizard Fist as well as the Shark Fist, so that's why she's worried and it has nothing to do with Herb being a good fighter with super-strong girly ki blasts, or her being willing to kill for wasting her time..._

_'Alright, so she's a wannabe fiancée. She's maybe _almost_ as good a martial artist as me, has dirty tricks, and is all about the "obstacles is for killing". That makes her some hellish mix of Cologne's fighting skill and Shampoo's exotic looks, with both their backwards Chinese village self-importance combined and no expressed stupid laws, yet. Oh, and she's got some nobility thing going on, like the Kunos._

_'But she isn't like the other girls, she doesn't get angry and hurt me, she just gets all __**cold**__ and does something else, but you can completely see her holding it over your head. I guess that's a little Nabiki-ish. There's a little Akane, too, because she's been denying the whole wanting to marry me thing. Not that Akane wants to, but she does a whole lot of denying. You can't really have a wannabe that doesn't want to be, so maybe not that much Akane after all. There's some Ukyo, though, what with living like a man, and dressing kind of like one, even if the pink hair really shoots that in the foot. She even technically __**is**__ a guy what with that prince business. Heh, only I could meet so many "men" with breasts _almost_ as nice as mine.'_

"I did not want to deceive you." Ranma lifted her head to make sure she'd heard correctly. Yes, the words had been spoken by Herb, even if the Musk looked like she'd bit into a lemon. They'd finally hit the city and were travelling in a pocket of space on the otherwise crowded streets. Pretty or not, Herb looked far too dangerous and self-important to be walking close to.

Still, Ranma had to be sure. "So if you didn't want to, why _did_ you? Seems you could have _not_ just as easily." She hoped being extra confrontational would get a few more of the dragon girl's weaknesses out in the open.

What it received was another of Herb's reptilian stares, with obvious strain at the corners of her eyes. The reaction made Ranma picture the taller girl trying to stare down the sun for waking her up early. Trying not to laugh at that mental image nearly had the pigtailed martial artist miss the answer to her question.

"I wanted to avoid fighting Ku Lon," Herb said simply. A moment of hesitation later she continued. "It would be in her best interest to kill Lime and Mint outright in such a battle, and I doubt that I could both protect them and win. Both would be my duty."

"You didn't really have to worry about _that._ Cologne plays dirty, but she doesn't just _kill_ people."

The Musk prince grimaced, then took a flying leap over a busy intersection. Ranma followed, giving an apologetic look to the frightened drivers below. "No, you do not understand," Herb said when they had begun walking again. "_I _would have to kill _her_. She would be forced to use equivalent force. She can cause me too much trouble with that knowledge. I... lacked the courage to tell you immediately after that, which is why I had Mint do it when I saw the consequences of hiding the truth from you. So..."

"So..." Ranma goaded, getting a thrill out of the would-be murderer's discomfort. _'Even if she doesn't __want to, she's acting like killing's her only option. Guess that's a little like Shampoo too. Maybe that's also related to a wonky law. Do all the villages near Jusenkyo try to make killers out of their kids? It isn't often I get to be proud of the things ____**pops**__ teaches me.'_

For a time, only a choking noise emanated from Herb's throat, with her hands balled into fists at her sides and the colour draining from her skin all over. Eventually, she managed to squeeze out in one long, soft, hiss, "so I regret my behaviour, hope you will understand my reasons, and ask you to not hold my discomfort and shame against me."

"I _guess_ I could do that stuff, if _you_ eased up on the killing people solution." Unable to resist, Ranma put a puzzled look on her face, and sent Herb a sideways glance. "Hey, were you trying to apologize to me?"

It proved to have been worth it, since Herb looked like she was on the verge of bursting a blood vessel from the strain on her face. "That would be _one_ way to characterize my desire to have you overlook my gaining unfair informational advantage over you by completely dispensing with it."

"You just keep talkin', dontcha? Don't worry about it. And I'm flattered and everything that you think I'm so great when you just met me, but let's just be friends and spar and stuff, OK?"

It didn't look as impressive as the impact she'd felt when that offer was made to her back on that first meeting with the Tendos, but Ranma had to concede that perhaps that too hadn't looked a half as major as it really was. The instant of surprise robbing Herb of her poise and nearly causing her to trip in the stiff walk the conversation had caused her to adopt, followed by a momentary, unsure, _real_ smile working its way onto the other girls face instead of the faked polite smile she'd been wearing most of the time was both hilarious and endearing. _'Actually, it's a little sad, too. I bet boring people hear that all the time and don't give it a second thought.'_

"I see little wrong with that," Herb said brusquely, whipping her head around to face forward once more. "But hurry. My guards will panic if we take too long." Matching action to words, the Musk sped up, making the parting of the crowd before her even more obvious than it had already been.

Keeping pace, Ranma congratulate herself on what must have been her first successful refusal of a romantic interest _ever_! _'And Nabiki says I've got no tact. Let's see __**her**__ dodge an engagement to a weird dragon prince and leave them happy about it!'_

A few passerby had started covertly taking pictures of Herb. She might have been boring by Shinjuku standards, but most anywhere else, the Musk girl's fantastic garb and gigantic trichromatic hair made a hell of a statement. It also left Ranma _not_ the specific centre of attention. The experience had its charm, but she had never figured out how so very many people could handle doing it almost _all_ the time. _'I could always ask Hiroshi or Daisuke what that's like."_

So great was the Saotome heir's pride at her recent accomplishment and planning to refine the techniques applied against her real fiancées, that she only vaguely took note of their entering a shopping mall. Herb had grown quieter since their discussion in the street, and only asked how to navigate the many shops. The first stop was a drug store, but the other girl seemed to have everything covered there. It was a bit of a surprise that the supplies they needed were medicinal; Ranma hadn't heard of any martial artists of the same calibre as the Musk suffering from trivial ailments. _'Maybe Herb's sick? Man, if she wasn't near her best back at the old ghoul's place this rematch is going to be ____**crazy**__! Now, to beat her really quick so I can pay her back for embarrassing me in the last fight, or draw it out so I can see all her best moves and have a really satisfying fight? Decisions, decisions...'_

"Ranma? Ranma?" Her brief delusion of being a man again, standing atop the beaten continent-sized dragon that was sure to be Herb's final form, accepting the praise and adulation of friends, family, and rivals for what was undoubtedly the greatest martial arts victory anyone had achieved, ever, was finally burst by persistent, and very strong, nudging. "Why are you laughing like that? Pay attention!"

"Huh? Err, I just thought of a really _great_ joke." Looking around, she was in the mall's main hallway, where people were studiously avoiding her. _'It's been a while since I had one of those. Last time was probably when Ryoga learned the Lion's Roar Bullet. That had to be the stupidest fight we've ever had. I hope Herb doesn't fall back on dumb tricks like that ____**completely**__.'_

Herb, for her part, didn't seem to care all that much. "That sounds like a lie. It also doesn't matter. Now, how do I buy clothing from that shop? What differentiates their tailor, and what are the proper conventions around selecting garments so that I don't give offence?" She stated to her, in all seriousness. "Also, do you know why everything is so decorative? It seems excessive for something I would wear under my clothes at all times." Herb was gesturing at a lingerie store.

A mixture of anger and embarrassment made themselves manifest in Ranma at being asked to help some girl shop for bras. Her complaint was practically fired off. "How the hell should _I_ know? Do I look like a girl to you?"

Herb's only response came in the form of a look of bafflement and a nod of her head.

"Well I'm not and you know it!" Her voice was raised high in order to make her point clearer. _'And if I've gotta hammer it home in every girl's head that I'm a guy, just a guy, and always a guy, curse or no, in order to keep them from dragging me into stupid girl stores, I'll do it!'_

The Musk prince, rather than backing down, firmed her jaw and set to speaking in a slow, even voice. "I am looking to find something to keep my breasts from bouncing all over the place while I do most any vigorous activity. I had heard there were articles of clothing sold in stores like this, 'brassieres', to help with that which were quite comfortable. Have you really never worn any yourself in all the time since you've been cursed?"

"Feh!" Ranma's disdain for the topic of conversation boiled over, but she moved closer to Herb to speak in a voice that couldn't be heard from any of the nearby stores. "They're not comfortable _at all_. Some are all tight and pinch and you slip out if ya move wrong, so it's worse than _not_ wearing one. Others've got metal bits that stab the underside of your boob. And then there's ones that're all flimsy and fall apart if you do much more than stand around in 'em." Seeing as she'd accidentally given away a bit too much, Ranma swiftly and inexpertly backpedalled. "Not that I'd know anything about that or stuff..."

"Excuse me," a new, loud, female voice cut into the conversation. It belonged to a woman in her early to mid 20s wearing the name of the lingerie store they'd been arguing in front of on a pin. Ranma let her diatribe die off since the woman seemed to have a purpose. "I accidentally overheard that you've had some unfortunate experiences with bras in the past, miss customer." She nodded toward Ranma, then inclined her head to Herb. "I also heard that you were looking to shop here. If you would come with me, I could see you both properly fitted and we can stop blocking off all other customers at the door?" Something about the suggestion carried hints that there wasn't another way for the encounter to go. It could have been that smile showing entirely too many teeth.

* * *

Mint was whistling to himself quite contentedly. He was carrying around a bag stuffed with food, had seen that for all that he'd never had time to notice before, there _were _a fair number of women in the world shorter than him, and was congratulating himself on successfully completing Herb's request to inform Ranma that she wanted her for a husband. The currently female prospective groom's reaction had been more than puzzling, but at least she hadn't been exactly _upset_ as the prince had feared. With how beautiful and skilled his master was, it was quite outside Mint's world view to imagine someone being less than ecstatic at the revelation. _'Ah, well,'_ he concluded with a shrug. _'Perhaps Japanese people are just very reserved?'_

Perfectly willing to let the curious behaviour pass with that simple explanation, Mint looked to the sky to find he still had quite a bit of time before Lime expected him back. While he _could _use it to improve his technique, or prepare a more extravagant meal, or even to coordinate with the tiger clansman the next phases of their plan to help Herb win Ranma's hand, the small guard knew in his heart that the best course of action was to find somewhere to sit and watch girls. _'I mean, if I am to be a good servant to a woman, I will have to know more about them than that they look, sound, and smell nice. Maybe that will help me avoid angering Herb, like Ranma seems to manage!'_

Resolve firmed and justification found, Mint lost himself in the way the wind played with light, feathered hair, that short skirts accentuated hips and buttocks before giving way to smooth, unmarked legs, that a pillar of hideous green light shot into the darkening heavens from out of the woods, that playful laughter passed between...

Mint's eyes snapped back to the pillar, which had reached its apex with a brighter, sicklier-looking ball of energy climbing it. The wolf clansman mouthed a quick "oh" before picking up the Chiisuiton and his bags, and dashing toward the luminous eyesore centred on _his_ campsite. People became blurs as he picked up speed, and horseless carts kept pace momentarily before breaking off for one reason or another. More than a few of the vehicles had to be vaulted over or onto in order to continue making forward progress, and even those light touches seemed to send the vehicles careening off the road. Mint had no time to care, for fear his partner had been caught in that vulgar display of power.

Some few of the vehicles were going the same way as him, but none could navigate the environment as easily. It took only a few minutes for Mint to escape the city and reach the place where his camp had been, gasping for breath after one of the hardest runs of his life. His heart, which was properly pounding away in his chest, skipped a beat to find the man who'd hunted him through the streets of Nerima rummaging through the battered and shredded remains of tents and packs. A crater had been formed in the centre of the clearing, and Lime lay unmoving at the bottom of it; Mint let out a gasp of joy when he saw the larger warrior's chest rise and fall, strained but steady.

The intruder kept on rummaging, seemingly entirely oblivious to Mint's presence. The small guard knew better. The bandanna-clad man was a hunter of prodigious skill, and was merely trying to fool his prey into letting down _its_ guard. If he could use a ki blast of that atrocious magnitude, defeat Lime, and still keep moving around, the hunter was the most dangerous foe Mint had ever faced. He might even be a threat to Herb. With thoughts of his prince lying broken and bleeding with the hunter standing over her laughing, Mint's only course of action became clear.

Filling his hand with knives, the Musk warrior couldn't suppress a snarl of rage when he launched them all at the crouched figure. Even as the knives soared through the air between them, Mint was unsheathing his sword and coming in to attack in the knives' wake, pulling the larger blade into a deadly arc that would end somewhere in the hunter's guts. All of the attacks came together as he'd planned, a knife striking at the neck, armpit, lower back, and knee; every last one skipped off the man's body after scoring a shallow cut. Mint's sword-arm nearly came free of its socket when the blade became caught in muscle _so_ much harder than any stone. Only long experience allowed him to keep his own momentum and spin to retrieve his larger weapon, and even still that left him slowed to a stop far too close to the hunter, who had just yelped, whether in true pain or merely surprise Mint couldn't tell.

Clasping a hand just above his hip, the only credible wound suffered, the hunter hopped several metres to put his back to some toppled trees, finally spying Mint and scowling. From the front he looked to be in much worse shape, with several gashes on his body, and many bruises seen through tears in his shirt, but also all over his face. His throat had a furious purple hand mark contrasting with the heavily tanned skin around it. He looked like he'd been thrashed; that Lime was responsible for such minor damage left Mint feeling sick to his stomach. He had pit himself against a monster, a monster that was now baring its fangs and barking out demands.

Blood was pounding in his ears so hard that the small bodyguard could hardly hear the bandanna-clad man's words. He understood the meaning of them well enough; the hunter meant to steal the Chiisuiton, leave Ranma trapped as a woman, and claim 'her' as his bride! It fell to Mint to finish what Lime had started and put down the _twisted_ monster, or if that failed, at least hold him back long enough for his master to return and help.

Mint's hand flashed forward and sent another two knives at his enemy's eyes, but they were caught in the unfurling of a strangely sturdy umbrella. Refusing to let an opportunity to benefit from his thrown knives pass him by, the Musk warrior hurled himself into the blind spot created by the hunter's own weapon, leading him to be above and behind his foe before he'd had time to fold the umbrella back up.

Feet striking a fallen tree and using it as a springboard for his renewed assault, Mint dived for the space between the man's shoulder-blades, only to have to abort it when several razor sharp projectiles flew through the space Mint's legs would have occupied if he hadn't. _'Were those his bandannas?'_ The bodyguard was left wondering as he jackknifed by them and brought his sword around to slash open his foe's brow, only to have _that_ attack intercepted by the umbrella. It did not escape the Musk warrior's attention that his blade had damaged the hunter's weapon, nor that the panicked defence had thrown him off balance. No sooner did Mint's feet touch the ground again than he was hurtling in at his foe with a flurry of cuts from every angle he could find.

The pace of Mint's assault was keeping the monstrous fighter from making any attack of his own, merely spinning in place on his heels to compensate as best he could for the wolf clan's style of rapid, relentless, mobile attacks. It couldn't have been more than ten seconds before Musk steel finally cleaved through lesser Japanese iron, separating the umbrella into two uneven parts.

Seeing his enemy at last vulnerable, Mint closed for the kill. _'If I have to __**chisel**__ my way into his arteries, I will leave him weak and bleeding out.'_ The monster was too surprised to even attempt an evasion, merely lifting his hand from his waist to his face, trailing a piece of cloth behind it. The small guard pivoted all his weight into the hacking cut at his enemy's inner thigh when the hunter's cloth went perfectly rigid.

The sword never made contact, its blade falling noisily to the ground even as its hilt tumbled uselessly from Mint's numbed fingers. Shocked, he cartwheeled away from the hunter using only the one hand and tried to piece together what had just happened. By the looks of his uselessly flopping, blood-soaked right arm, and the separated pieces of his sword, that piece of rigid cloth had cut through both with nearly no resistance. _'I'm sorry, Lime,'_ the small warrior thought to his unconscious partner, before turning on his heels and snatching at the Chiisuiton's bucket. The whole thing fell apart when several more razor projectiles that the Musk could now readily identify as bandannas passed through it.

Mint only kept his hand by halting another grab for the Ladle, narrowly avoiding a large, blurring disc passing through the same space and going on to split a handful of trees down the middle.

Dreading what he'd see, the guard turned to find a sweating, gasping, bleeding, fanged madman bearing down on him, hair flapping loose and no rigid cloth blades to be found; the hunter was almost upon him. Steeling himself, Mint drew one of his last knives and counter-charged, bringing it up into the space the soft underside of his foe's jaw would have been, but only coming away with hair when his enemy fell to a knee early, one finger touching the rocky ground.

Mint had only started to reverse the strike when pain replaced everything.

As darkness came in to wash away even the pain, the small Musk warrior was able to wonder whether he'd ever get to lose consciousness of his own volition again.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **_**I don't think there are words for how happy I am that this is finished. I pray that I don't run into half as many problems getting chapter 7 out, but I won't test my luck by expecting it. Next chapter will be a bit less focused than the last few have been, so look forward to reading about the _other_ characters.**

**As always, I appreciate and very much hope for thoughts, comments, criticisms, hopes, ideas, what have you, and thank you for your patience. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, with a great deal less frustration than I had.  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Making a Mess

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Ranma 1/2, its characters, or its scenarios. If someone else goes through the correct paperwork, I won't even own the Original Characters and scenarios in here. I'm not liable to do much about either situation._

* * *

**A Prince's Duty - Chapter 7: Making a Mess**

"For the last time dad, I'm telling you, that jerk's going to be just _fine_." Akane was getting extremely tired of repeating herself, now that her father's worries had been keeping her from her studies for over an hour.

"Bu- but, the omens..." her father sobbed out, having temporarily – and blessedly – exhausted the fountain of tears he seemed to somehow carry within him at all times.

"Cologne herself even said she'd made sure Ranma would be safe. So quit making such a big deal about it."

"Still, how can we trust...?"

Irritation beginning to flare, the youngest Tendo daughter bit out a response that was a great deal less polite than could be expected. "She has as much reason as any of us to want him hurt, dad, and more reason than _someone_ to want him back to normal."

Nabiki, in a rare show of sisterly solidarity, poked her head into the room with a raised eyebrow and tight, sardonic grin. "Hey, sis. Daddy still scared for his young bride-to-be?"

The Tendo patriarch's tears dried up immediately as he spun his head to see his middle daughter. "Nabiki, it's impolite to sneak up on your father when he's having a heartfelt discussion with one of your sisters." Just as quickly, he was back in tears and pleading dramatically with his youngest once more. "Oh, to be so mistrusted by my own children. You must know I would never try to steal your fiancé from you. It was a foolish joke meant to spur him on to greater heights, you must believe me!"

"Oh, my! Auntie Saotome will be so disappointed to learn that young Ranko has been abandoned already." In spite of herself, Akane nearly burst out laughing at the look her father cast towards his eldest, who'd just entered the doorway. With all the Shakespeare she'd read for the drama club _just_ for the chance to play Juliet, she could almost hear the "Et tu, Kasumi?"

Every face in the room drained of colour at the next words spoken, though. "I'm sorry, the door was open and you were all speaking so loudly I wanted to make sure you knew I was here. Did I hear you right, Kasumi dear? Has some dishonourable young man walked out on your cousin?" Much to their grief, standing before the chattering Tendos was one Nodoka Saotome, coming by for another of her impromptu check-ins.

Smothering herself with her open biology textbook worked about as well as expected, but at least it let Akane cover her face enough to get her complaints straight. _'Just great. Ranma's gone and his problems __**still **__won't leave any of us alone__. At this rate I'll __**never**_ _get ahead in my homework, and __to top it all off,_ _I'll bet that jerk is __just_ _having the time of his life bothering that strange girl with his perversions.'_

* * *

"I'm tellin' ya, I _ain't_ talkin' about it." Ranma shouted behind her as she stormed away from the lingerie store she had just escaped from. _'Not intact,' _she noted, studiously avoiding fingering the straps of the bra she'd left wearing after an unprecedented amount of cajoling from one of the store clerks.

Only the absolute certainty that no one aside from Herb even suspected who she really was, and that she was acting oblivious to why Ranma would be upset about that part of their shopping trip, had kept the pigtailed girl from making an even greater scene in order to escape from the deeply shameful situation. It was one thing wearing one and hating it in order to trick and defeat Happosai, but wearing one and _not_ hating it was getting into truly unsettling territory. _'And,' _she reasoned while ignoring the questions posed by her new and quite possibly vengeful 'friend', _'a Man among Men probably doesn't wear girl clothes no matter how well they support his breasts.'_ Scrunching up her nose a bit, Ranma amended that thought. _'He definitely shouldn't have breasts to feel better supported, to begin with.'_

Nearby, the Musk prince had finished trying to engage her in conversation, and was pretending that the entire matter of speaking to her wasn't all that appealing, anyway. It was something Akane did a lot of, but wasn't expected here. An impish grin crept onto the redhead's face. _'Oh. Right. Cologne got her to promise not to do anything serious to me.' _She paused, _'__Heh,_ _like she could.' _Some tiny seed of doubt attempted to make itself known to her, but that matter was quickly swept away and used as fuel for the greater emergent notion to make Herb regret the assumption of superiority that her agreement with the Chinese Amazon betrayed. Another irritant was that the old ghoul herself had also made that same assumption.

Her calculating stare passed over a pay phone, and Ranma knew just how she would start testing the strange girl's resolve. "Hey, Herb," Ranma called out. "I need to go check in with the Tendos. Give me a minute, kay'?" Without waiting for a response, she bounded off over to the device and fed it some change.

Kasumi was cheerful as usual when she answered the phone, her loud, clear greeting doing an astonishingly good job of making Ranma feel at ease. She returned the greeting, "Hi Kasumi. It's Ran-."

"Ranko!" The eldest of the Tendo sisters abruptly exclaimed, causing a buzz of worried, familiar voices to drift through the receiver to the Saotome. "It's wonderful to hear from you so soon. We were just talking about you." Kasumi, of course, sounded more stressed than wonderful, but that was neither here nor there.

_'Mom's visiting__,__' _she internally groaned. The only reason for the name of her alter ego to be brought up in the first place was to fool her mother into thinking she was the Tendos' cousin to prevent the revelation that Ranma was a girl – if only part-time – so that she didn't have to commit seppuku for failing in the idiotic promise her father had made that she would be a "Man among Men" when next she and her mother saw one another. Her father was pretty sure being a girl half of the time wasn't meeting one of the necessary criteria; being a girl _all_ the time was a clear forfeit by even the most lenient standards. A woman who carried her family honour-blade and a seppuku pledge around with her wherever she went didn't strike Ranma as the sort to go with 'lenient'. Like too many of the other women in her life, Ranma's mother was a strange mix of kind, nutty, and terrifying.

Starting to get into character, the young martial artist raised her vocal register and cheered herself up by thinking about delicious free food. "Uh... of course Kasumi! Don't want to worry anyone, you know?" She followed that up by shooting Herb a glare for the funny look the dragon-girl was giving her, and asking slyly "do I wanna know what you were saying about me?"

"Of course nothing bad, cousin. _Nabiki_ was just filling auntie Saotome in on your newest adventure. She was looking forward to seeing you."

"Maybe I should make sure all the details are right with Akane? And could I speak with auntie after I sort out that and some other stuff?"

Some of Kasumi's tension was gone when she said, "I think that's a very good idea," letting Ranma know she'd done as was expected.

Even as the receiver was passed along, Ranma heard her mother ask Kasumi, "is the poor dear doing well? She's such a sweet, bright young girl; how could her fiancé treat her with such disdain?"

Ranma blinked. _'__Oh geez just_ _what the hell crazy story did Nabiki come up with?'_

There was no time to think, though, as the clearly frustrated and much-missed voice of Ranma's most official fiancée drifted to her ears. "Thanks for calling at such a great time, _Ranko_." The young redhead noted that that sounded a bit more like an accusation, rather than any species of thanks. "You'd be amazed at all the excitement you're missing out on here." Now _that_ sounded like she was shiftlessly avoiding the general Nerima silliness. "I hope you aren't giving your _prince charming_ too much trouble."

There was a problem. Also, Herb was looking at her like she'd grown a second head, or whatever crazy near-mythical creatures gave people dumb looks over. _'Stupid, weird Chinese tribals,'_ Ranma complained internally. She kept her peace, all the while thinking of the trouble the dragon-girl had caused her, rather than the other way around.

"Well, like Nabiki said, _he's_ so beautiful even a _girl_ might be jealous of his looks. It isn't any of _my_ business, but try to watch what you do."

Something was really wrong, peace could keep itself. Whatever it was the middle Tendo sister had said was going to make life more difficult. It involved Ranko first being engaged to a boy, who apparently did something wrong, which led to her going off with Herb, who in this story was also a man for some reason or other. Akane was trying to explain what that was, but the act of explaining was angering her. It would be better just to play along with whatever her mother had planned than to deal with trying to make sense of whatever complicated and confusing girl emotion the tomboy was wrestling with. She absolutely _wasn't_ irritated at the implication she might have reason to be jealous of the 'prince' absolutely failing to be inconspicuous about listening in on the conversation. _She _was better built, anyway.

"Look, Akane," Ranma said. "With everything going on right now, I'm gonna be gone for a while, and I need your help keeping up with school."

"Fine," Akane huffed out. "What do you need done?"

"I'm gonna call now and then to see what I should be reading up on, and I need you to send assignments and notes and stuff to a hot spring resort pop and I've stayed at. It's just outside Kamiyamasaka, way out west."

"Wow. Guess it's far away, huh." Some hesitancy edged into the distant girl's voice. "Umm, listen, about what I did, earlier..."

Ears perking up, Ranma put on a cocky grin she wasn't sure whether she regretted the Tendo's inability to see. "Uh huh?"

"Well, I wanted to say that I wa-"

Whatever _might_ have been said just then was lost when the streets turned to panic at the sight of a massive flare of green light in the hills the tiny urban area was nestled against. Ranma knew it for the perfected form of Ryoga's "Lion's Roar Bullet", Herb clearly knew it for an obscenely massive Ki attack. The crowd? The crowd probably thought it was a bomb, and would be some time in recovering from the associated panic.

Saying goodbye would have to wait, since Herb screamed out, "our camp!" before surging toward the explosion; her movement was in exactly the opposite direction of most pedestrian traffic.

"Herb, hey- hey wait!" Ranma called, even as the girl with trichromatic hair took a superhuman leap over the press of bodies. Dropping the receiver and taking to the air to follow, her eyes widened measurably when, instead of landing to take off again, the dragon princess _just kept going_. She wasn't _jumping._ Herb was _actually flying. _The pigtailed martial artist pushed disappointment over a lost chance to speak with her mother down in her rush to follow, excitement at the possibility of _learning_ that kind of technique, and fear for Ryoga's life. She just had to touch down on the ground and push off periodically like a chump to do it.

* * *

"Is no fair Xian Pu no can go with beloved in time of needs!" The violet-haired Joketsuzoku Champion pleaded with her great-grandmother once more, her words continuously falling on deaf ears, much to her frustration. _'Can she not see how __**hard**_ _it is to get a minute alone with Ranma in this madhouse? How can I hope to convince him to come back to our tribe if we don't say more than a few sentences to each-other every week?' _Xian Pu tried to force her thoughts on her elder with an angry glare and annoyed pout. Being limited to speaking Japanese since her shameful return home after failing to kill the outsider woman who turned out to be a cursed man was starting to grate on her nerves.

The sole indication that her great-grandmother had heard her amidst the activity and noise of preparing several dishes at once was the 'closed' sign which appeared in her hands. Sure that this would mean a chance to convince the elder of the foolishness of letting Ranma go off alone with the Musk, Xian Pu grinned and skipped around the restaurant. Quickly putting up the sign, she then switched on the recording feature for the telephone, and finally, was only left the 'hard' part. Steeling herself bravely, she bumped into Mu Tsu. Proper angle of incidence and an outstretched hand ensured that the only lost item was a glass of iced tea poured directly onto her childhood friend turned besotted fool, now foul. "Aiyah!" Xian Pu exclaimed for the benefit of the half-blind martial artist duck, who was presently trying to extricate himself from his voluminous robes while tucking them and their contents under his wings somehow. "Clumsy Mu Tsu should watch where is going. Xian Pu finish serving guests, so silly duck-person can go get changed and handle last deliveries."

And just like that, she had escaped the possibility of delays via long deliveries. Of course, the matter of serving tables strategically remained. It was necessary to be an efficient and gracious hostess so that there was no call for any customer complaints, but it was also necessary to avoid being any more charming than that, which might distract the guests from eating, and most importantly, leaving in a timely fashion. The last proved particularly difficult given how beautiful and talented Xian Pu was, but her perseverance was rewarded by the departure of the last satisfied customer. A flicked wrist to lock the door and the excited Amazon was racing to the kitchen to get an explanation from the tired-looking elder.

"Anything is wrong, great-grandmother?" In a hurry to receive an explanation or no, failing to be polite to an elder was an excellent way to be presented with 'creative' training regimens. How Ranma kept on not noticing that continued to baffle her. That he and the lost boy survived their indiscretions was something of a twisted badge of honour.

Never one to miss an opportunity to instill pomp and theatrics into everything she did, the Amazon elder spent several more minutes in dead silence, preparing a pot of tea for the two of them to share over a suitably embellished and drawn-out, roundabout answer to the very simple question posed to her. _'I wonder if it would be too obvious to bring popcorn and request intermissions?'_

Ku Lon was in fine form that day, and she meandered from topic to topic, ranging from ancient Nichiezu history, to legal policies, to special techniques, to perverted breeding practises, to one-upmanship, and all through the range in different orders several times over. The thought crossed Xian Pu's mind that the elder _might_ like what she thought was the sound of her own voice. _'If I could just convince the middle Tendo girl... Nabiki, right? If I could get her to lend me a tape recorder for a day, I might just cure Great-Grandmother of that delusion.' _The young champion feigned riveted attention all the while, gasping, nodding, shaking her head, and making proud gestures at appropriate times.

"So," she said, slowly. "We not going with husband because he is with dangerous animal-lover perverts who is enemies?" Xian Pu saw the staff her elder carried blur into motion, but wasn't yet fast enough to do more than anticipate the explosion of stars across her vision, and the ringing in her head. She started pouting childishly, hoping to evade further reprimands by using the old hag's soft spot for the young against her.

Elder Ku Lon merely snorted, before giving her a second much softer, if just as loud, crack on the skull. Her tone was serious now, devoid of the air of mystery she so often carried on in. "This isn't a game, granddaughter, and there is nothing trivial about the threat the Musk pose. Yes, they have resorted to abominable breeding practices, but the results are undeniably effective. I let young prince Herb take your husband along with her because _he_ is too foolish to convince not to fight, and because _I_ was able to secure her promise not to do him any great harm, and lastly..."

Xian Pu heard her great-grandmother trailing off, and could see her weighing how much, if anything at all, she wanted to share of her last reason. _'She coddles me too much. Am I not village champion? If I don't hurry her along she'll think of some way to brush this all off and I'll never know what's so important about my not going with Ranma.' _Her thoughts ordered, she prompted her elder for a proper explanation, tone respectful but adamant. "Xian Pu must know why if is to make wise decisions on own. What things worries Elder Ku Lon so much?" Despite the sour look the ancient woman gave her, she kept her expression stern and her head unbowed.

"Young people never know to leave well enough alone, and the greater part of trouble to their elders," Ku Lon muttered, before releasing a sigh deeper than her body looked to have space to contain. "Very well, Xian Pu, young Champion of Joketsuzoku village. You will know the true horror of the Dragon Princes. Theirs is a life so powerful, so absolute, that it defies the existence of all else." The old woman suddenly broke into a wicked grin from ear to ear, cackling a little. "You will also learn about our detailed and long political relationship with the Musk, since you are interested in acquiring some wisdom."

Xian Pu grew to regret her decision to leverage maturity against her great-grandmother. While the old woman didn't shy from describing the dangerous power the royal family of the Musk inherited from their inhuman ancestor, the vast majority of her interest, attention, and description was about politics. The lavender-haired Amazon hoped she stayed in character while struggling to follow the very complicated Japanese being used. _"Never question the Elders. If the ancestors smile on you, they will tell you it is not your business. If you are not so fortunate, they might just give you a proper answer". Maybe I am as dim as these Japanese say if I can't learn from such a frank proverb after all these __years.'_

* * *

Like countless times before, the battle raged on. Fist rose to meet fist, guards and strikes were exchanged with uncanny precision at unfathomable speeds, lunges and grabs were turned aside without fail, and every escape manoeuvre was gracefully countered. These perfectly matched and preternaturally gifted foes had collided over a bell ago. One could not surrender, and so it fell to the other to concede that there was nothing more to be gained from their conflict. The defeated party gave the victor a nod even as it faded from his mind's eye, before turning to the man he'd been hoping would leave if he took long enough. _'Never any such luck,'_ he chided himself, motioning for the other to speak, and careful to remain placid in spite of the interruption.

Wiping sweat from his wide, jutting forehead, the pest, a middle-aged ram clansman of some status nervously stuttered out his explanation. "Ki- King Tarragon he, he c- commands," he paled slightly before continuing in more of a hurry, "th- those are hi- his words! He commands that the Pr- Prince Turmeric a- attend him. Immediately." His piece said, the warrior, and servant of the Musk's royal family collapsed against a nearby wall, his will completely exhausted.

Turmeric's face contorted into a scowl with which it was quite familiar. It was one very nearly reserved for, and almost perpetually worn when dealing with the present Musk king. To relieve some of the pressure his displeasure was having on the frightened servant, Cabbage, he gave a brief nod and strode from his chambers. Entering the adjacent archives would normally have put him at ease but for his current destination. "Well," he grumbled, "it isn't as if I haven't at least made the tyrant stew for a while."

The route to the throne room was painfully familiar to prince Turmeric by now. He had walked there and back ten thousand times before, and knew he would repeat the procedure ten thousand times more. His mood soured further when he saw a business and bustle that had been uncommon in the palace since prince Herb and his retainers had finished their studies under imported language tutors, and just as uncommon before their arrival.

He clucked his tongue in further irritation at the memory. _'That was Anise's fool notion. Imagine, that the barbarians in the world beyond the Middle Kingdom should be important enough to bother learning to make sense of their vulgar tongues. As though understanding the chirping of the Iron Men wasn't enough of a concession! Terrible to think ill of the deceased, but when I follow him I'll have to ask Anise if it was just some tumour-induced madness. That is if the deceased go somewhere they can ask one-another things.'_

The palace's halls themselves were lined with portraits of ancestors, an almost farcical display of vanity from his perspective. They looked out at him with faces that, barring a few fine differences and imperfections, may as well have been cast by a mirror. _'We look enough alike, one prince might as well have just had a few hundred done over his life and saved the rest __of us the trouble__.' _Scornful observation aside, the reminder of his appearance caused Turmeric to take a moment to settle his trichromatic hair back in place after the earlier activity. The large tail had been moved slightly off-centre during his shadow-boxing.

It _certainly_ would not do to give Tarragon anything to talk about aside from whatever banal demand he had; his skill in wasting hours and exhausting tempers would certainly be preserved in legend following his demise. _'May it be after his brat has come of age, and had a child of his own.'_ Much as Tarragon was his least-favourite person, Turmeric would rather see his reign last until the sun fell from the sky one final time than to have to replace him.

His walk to the throne-room took only a few short minutes, and before the doors were arrayed _two_ of the palace's three guards, and all five of its scholars, older Musk warriors of an intellectual bent who'd lost either the will or the capacity to fight to the depredations of time. All seven of the assembly had their ears pressed to the doors and were paying minimal attention. The gross breach of decorum only particularly bothered Turmeric in its presenting an inconvenience to him, but if he wanted to get those doors open and himself introduced in a hurry he'd be required to put a stop to it. Loosing his control of both Ki and temper, the put-upon prince stormed up to the doors. The effects on those assembled before them were immense. Three of the scholars hopped away from him, and the guards snapped to attention, pulling the doors open and sending the remaining scholars stumbling to avoid falling in his path.

"Prince Turmeric of the Musk, to see King Tarragon, master of the practitioners of the Shokei Fist and supreme Lord of the Musk!" The scruffy wolf clansman's shouted introduction betrayed not a hint that he had been ignoring his post only seconds ago; it was to his great credit that he was only shaking below the waist, Turmeric had been going for intimidation. Still, when he crossed the threshold the doors were tugged closed in much haste to put a solid barrier between the frightened men without and him, within. It was something like a child shrouding himself in a thick blanket to ward off the monsters that stalk the night: not terribly effective for its main purpose, but good about buffering flagging confidence and courage.

Turmeric's intended furious chastisement of his king for the discourteous orders he'd given to his servant in requesting the presence of a dragon prince with such an impolite message died in his throat. That was because the room was occupied by more than just Tarragon and his remaining personal attendant. In fact Cumin, the overly talkative ape clansman, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in front of the throne a handsome woman in her middle years with long, thick, _teal_ hair, and a vacant, blank expression was folded in half over a staff that was keeping her from falling to the ground. Said staff itself was being held in the bony grasp of what the prince could only presume was a high-ranking demon in some hell of shrivelled, dried-out, diseased corpses. The demon had turned its enormous, milk-white eyes on him, and he couldn't will himself to look away.

"Ahh, good, good! I was expecting you, prince Turmeric." Said prince's eyes tore free from the dead thing's and saw that the King wore the vicious little smile that _he_ reserved for those times he was able to sate his perverse love of manoeuvring others into the most uncomfortable situations he might. And, having lost the initiative completely, he was going to have to listen to the tyrant _gloat_.

"Please, before anything else, I simply must introduce you to some recently arrived guests in Musk lands, from the Nichiezu, of all people!" Tarragon tapped a purely decorative fan closed on his armrest, then bobbed it first at the demon, then at the suspended woman. "This fine woman who so captured your attention is Elder Mao Suashi, and the young lady she would be less required to keep supported if you would _master yourself_ is Cuima Rin Ci. Were those pronounced correctly, Elder?"

Restraining himself more fully, Turmeric saw the younger woman recover both awareness and motor control, although she was still shaking quite badly, at that. Regretting that the situation he was in prevented him from apologizing, he instead turned his attention more towards the demon he now knew to _also_ be a woman. _'Were Tarragon not here, I could at least __recover from this embarrassing situation__. By my ancestors... I will have to submit to Ru Mai's gloating if we are rejoined after death. Mao Suashi has proven me wrong about her being the least attractive woman under the sky. Whoever would have imagined?'_

"Yes, that was correct, your Highness," the ancient woman croaked out as she wet sand-dry lips with a thick, mottled tongue that reminded him of a particularly loathsome worm.

It took long enough to look away from the sight that the king had started up again, his self-satisfaction bordering on glee. "Yes, honoured Elder and Warrior of a once-rival people, my grandfather, here, is our most devoted historian. He should be; he's spent more of his years reading through and copying our nation's past than any other living Musk has even had. And, prince Turmeric, per an agreement made by prince Herb with the Nichiezu Elder Ku Lon, you are to travel with these two to the village of Joketsuzoku, where you will exchange the last seven hundred or so years of our history and current laws with those of your hosts. Doesn't that sound like great fun?"

All truth told, it sounded like the ideal vacation away from Tarragon, but at the same time, not only did he have grounds to deny the order, but defying the king was seeming like a perfect, if petty, revenge for the unpleasant scenario which had just been orchestrated. "I am a warrior in perfect health, my king," he stated icily, eyes narrowed and back straight. "This mission of yours is suited to one who has retired. His majesty should have little trouble finding such a one. Will that be all?"

"Not retired? Hmm, for all the time you spend among the histories I thought for certain you'd just neglected to tell me." The king's immediate, plainly amused response told Turmeric that this, too, had been part of the game. Tarragon proceeded to wave the rejection away as he might some flying pest. "Well, I'd hate to have disturbed you for no reason, so it's perhaps for the good that I also had something I needed to speak to one of our warriors about. We can discuss this once our guests have left."

Turning in his throne, the ruler of the Musk addressed the Nichiezu warmly. "Ladies, you will find Fennel just outside. While not prince Turmeric's match, he has no grounds to object to my order. Oh! Is young Cuima Rin Ci well? Have Bay fetch her some tea to help restore her before you depart." A quick tug at a cord behind a tapestry depicting the clans that had founded the Musk meeting over some fermented drink or other caused a tiny bell to chime beyond the throne-room's doors. The guards quickly opened them.

The tiny, deformed elder pressed her desiccated lips together into a forced smile, nodded her head, and then helped the other younger woman with her to stumble from the room. Turmeric let none of the strain of failing to help them show as he continued to stand at attention before the tyrant. At the door, Mao Suashi gave her own parting words. "The reunion between our people has been most fortuitous. Oh, and the prince Herb is free to visit our village at any time."

The two men rested in tableau, Tarragon leaning forward in his simple throne casting a wide, insincere smile at the departing women, while Turmeric stood, frowning as he tracked their progress by the gradual motions of the king's eyes. Only when the doors had been shut firmly behind the departing pair did motion return to them. Without preamble, the tyrant rose from his seat and walked over to the room's window, a clear invitation to more informal discussion. "The amazons certainly got your attention, didn't they grandfather?"

Unwilling to let that be the topic they dealt with, Turmeric only grunted before making his own observation, still rooted to the spot he had stood in since taking note of the Nichiezu. "That invitation extended only to your son."

"It did, didn't it?" When Tarragon's affected surprise failed to yield further information, he continued on as though he'd merely been mulling the thought over himself. Perhaps he had been, at that. "I wonder what he might have done to so impress them. You missed the earlier parts of our meeting, but the elder had nothing but praise for him."

_That_ got a reaction out of Turmeric, if only widened eyes and honest confusion in his voice. "Herb?"

"Herb."

Brow knotting, Turmeric was forced to respond with an uncertain, questioning solution. "Perhaps he was not absolutely terrible to them, as you were just now?"

"Herb!" The king's genuine shock was tinged with amusement at that, and he turned a derisive smile on the substantially older prince of the Musk to further illuminate how worthy of consideration he found that possibility.

Feeling a little silly for the suggestion, but unwilling to get embroiled in an argument on its merit, Turmeric pressed on. "He might have been having an off day. He's got less practise being a hateful little shit than you, my liege. That sort of thing can happen to beginners, no matter their level of genius. Now explain what I'm doing here, other than being used to terrify people who haven't been our enemies for more years than all the residents of this palace have between them."

Tarragon's sly, mocking grin only grew at this, before he turned back to look out the window. "Herb's in Japan."

"Japan?"

"Island nation, far to the East and across the sea. It's mostly made up of fishermen and muck farmers, they..."

Scowling deeper, and thanking his dear, departed wife for over two decades of frustration and useless anxiety, Turmeric interrupted to move things along. "So far you've mentioned your son, peasants, and a barbarian nation. I don't especially care for, or about, any of them. Get to the point and let's avoid sharing more purposeless words."

Tarragon clicked his tongue. "Too passionate, too _efficient_. That's why they were reluctant to see you step down from the throne, both times. Mark my words, when Herb takes _my_ place the people will call for a month of feasts. Don't go!" he abruptly belted, as he watched the incensed prince before him attempt to take a leave. "This is all very relevant, I can assure you."

"Now, you are to find and retrieve my son. He's off in a distant land forging political ties, hunting artifacts, and carrying as eclectic an assortment of documents as has ever been seen. He is _supposed_ to be producing an heir of his own so I can step down before too much longer. These last sixteen years have been absolutely _dreadful_, and I will not put up with it a day longer than utterly necessary."

"If your own father had taken a similar stance with you..." Turmeric's biting remark was cut short by the disappearance of his grandson's playful manner.

"If that had happened," he stated, "then I might have killed, crippled, or rendered barren many more women on my cock, yes. More fool he. Now if you're finished, I expect you to return with Herb within the month, as well as to have an answer as to what he is doing to so impress our old relations, why he felt the sudden need to locate and acquire the Kaisuifuu, and how he imagined all that running around would be more beneficial than, for example, a _wife_ for giving him a child." The tyrant's hand snapped out in a dismissive gesture, and remained there.

_'In hindsight,' _the prince chastised himself, _'I should have known bringing up his father, even tangentially, would set him off. He may be habitually cruel, but Anise is a truly sore point with Tarragon.'_ Keeping his peace, Turmeric strode swiftly and silently to and through the doors.

_'And now I get to go hunting my self-involved, thoughtless great-grandson.'_ Turmeric enthused. _'Bah on all the philosophers; duty, filial piety, and respect are meaningless. The real glue that holds a family __together is mutual animosity and an ample supply of spite.'_

* * *

Herb and Ranma came upon a scene of devastation so complete that it would have been impossible to identify the original configuration of the landscape and foliage from the current pock-marked, cratered, shredded, and scattered _mess_ that had replaced it. Of the camp which had been set only a few hours ago assorted scraps of silk cloth and lumps, or shards, of iron were all that remained. Amid the chaos were two bodies.

Lime's hulking form rested at the bottom of the single large crater in the ruined clearing, breathing rhythmically and showing little sign that it had been involved in the events leading to the destruction all around. The much smaller Mint lay atop a mound of soft earth, upper body wrapped in various shredded strips of blood-soaked cloth, many of which were mustard yellow at the edges. This second one's breathing was much less easily identified, and his flesh was deathly pale. Paying no mind to what Ranma's reaction might be, Herb brusquely ordered the other martial artist to wake Lime and learn what had transpired. For only a moment, she'd thought it was already too late for her bodyguard and near-constant companion, and the wrenching pain it had set off in her chest and gut were only starting to subside. Struggling around the still-immense knot in her stomach, the prince of the Musk rushed to kneel by Mint's side, and better observe his condition.

Mind refusing to clear itself of horrid possibilities, she gently lifted some of the makeshift bandages wound about the little warrior's torso. What she found there was a collection of unnumbered shallow cuts and gashes, most barely deep enough to bleed at all, and some not even that. The greatest risk they posed was infection; almost the entirety of his skin had been compromised. While she could think of nothing that might have inflicted that sort of damage, Herb was well-aware of how to treat it. She quickly replaced the bandages and moved on to the much more heavily-wrapped shoulder. From the state of the rest of his body, this was where most of the bleeding would have to have taken place. _'Or be taking place,' _she silently amended when her hands were immediately damp with the sticky fluid. Clamping down _hard _on the excited emotions this elicited, the Musk prince struggled for the detachment she'd spent so many years training to make use of. Whoever had done this to her guards clearly hadn't intended to kill them if the quality of care rendered here was any indication, but it still might prove insufficient. Herb would need to stop the bleeding immediately if she was to avoid the consequences of letting one of her vassals perish.

With all their equipment probably destroyed, there was nothing else for it but extreme measures, and for those she needed her guard awake. Slapping the ground by his ear gave rise to a tiny thunderclap, but failed to bring about so much as a sliver of consciousness. Hoping it wouldn't worsen some unseen wound; Herb lifted the young wolf clansman into her lap and began shaking him, calling his name all the while. Before long, high-pitched whines of protest were emanating from his throat.

Elated to have gotten a strong response, Herb set about speaking hurriedly to rouse her guard further, an excess of relief and worry leaving her voice hoarse. "Mint! Mint, you must wake up now! You have been wounded, and I must set to work immediately to keep you from...," she swallowed down a painful lump and a word she didn't at all want to associate with her vassal before finishing, "getting worse. Do you understand me? You _will_ answer."

A barely audible susurrus slipped from Mint's lips, forcing Herb to crane her neck in a bit to better know if he was sensible, as well as sensitive. "Soft..." the incapacitated bodyguard moaned out, punctuated by nestling his head more securely atop his prince's breasts. Gentleness stopped being an even passing concern. She proceeded to snake her thin, nimble fingers under the young warrior's cap, secure a grip on the short hair atop his head, then yank hard into the air, drawing a yelp of surprise and pain from him. He suddenly appeared much more alert.

"Good that you are returned to us. You are bleeding badly and I must sear the wound closed. Say that you understand!" Herb was glad that her voice had stabilized from earlier, back into one that was merely harsh and demanding. _'He must not be at ease,'_ she assured herself as she continued to hold his head up by the hair. _'His pain is __**mandatory**__.'_

"Y-yes, m-master Herb!" Mint whined, even as he thrashed involuntarily against Herb's painful grip. His good arm was kept clutching the injured, though, making the entire affair even more unpleasant for him than it might otherwise have been.

"Good." The Musk prince stated, a hopeful smile working its way onto her face. "Then I command you to oppose me, do you understand? You absolutely must _not_ submit." And, with all she might do to prepare him taken care of, Herb pushed her guard to the ground, stealing the breath from him even as he attempted to cry out in pain. She took the opportunity to straddle his torso and tear the bandages from his arm, revealing the deep, perfect, bleeding cut which was threatening Mint's life. _'What manner of weapon could have done __**that**__, I wonder? It went through part of his collarbone as if it offered no more resistance than air.'_

There was a noise of confusion, or possibly concern from the direction she'd sent Ranma when Herb began manifesting her aura and concentrating it around her hands, but the Musk prince had too much to do focusing past the blows a fearful Mint was raining down on her abdomen, legs, and relatively vulnerable chest to give it more thought than that. When the heat distortion from her aura became obvious, Herb negotiated a simple open-palmed strike to her guard's shoulder which was accompanied by the sound of sizzling meat. The smell followed soon after, as did her guard's howl of pain, although the expected convulsions were oddly controlled. _'In fact,' _she observed from outside the situation, _'hardly any of my energy is insinuating itself in him at all. Could this be related to my present weakness?'_

Herb was spun about and pulled from Mint's body by a pair of small, but astonishingly strong hands on her shoulders, completely ruining both her concentration and train of thought. "What the heck were ya doin' to the guy?" Ranma's face, close to her own, was filled with anger and worry; it was an expression not far from the one she'd seen on _his_ face when Lime had dropped that Akane-girl. That meant, of course, that the pigtailed martial artist wanted a fight.

Despite finding herself glad at the little redhead's concern for her bodyguard, Herb was upset and confused enough at the accusation and recent events to take her up on the offer. A good bout of thrashing someone would do wonders both for her mood, as well as help crystallize the correct course of their near-future actions. Resolving to do just that, later, the Musk prince stood her full height and executed a turn and arm sweep to free herself from Ranma's grip. _'First, revenge.' _That was an easy way to proceed.

"You have some miserable taste in 'friends' if you think one of them might bring harm on those they are responsible for." Herb's words lost a healthy measure of their bile when the other girl only nodded, easily, at that. She was left to wonder _what _sort of friends Ranma already had. "It was for his good, and is not easy to explain. Your agitation waits until later tonight. We are pressed for time; I must know who has done this, and why."

The derisive snort and taunting, sing-song words from the redhead didn't do much good with Herb's tenuous grip on self-mastery. "Yeah? That's gonna be pretty soon, then." Ranma took up a combat stance, and continued in a flatter tone. "It was Ryoga, come for a rematch with the big guy over there. Guess he and the little guy put up a hell of a fight. He doesn't usually go all out anymore. So, are you gonna..."

"It was for the Ladle." Mint, who had recovered his senses gasped out, looking as though he would have much rather stayed _in_sensate. Still, it was enough to make Herb completely refocus her attention.

The prince's face was ashen and her voice tinged with worry. "What do you mean?"

"Hey!" Ranma cried out in clear indignation. "I was on a roll there."

Lime joined the other Musk in not being overly concerned with what Ranma may or may not have been rolling. "Hey, yeah!" He shouted, smacking a fist into his open palm. "I was way too busy beating him up to hear him out, but he said something about it. What'd he want it for?" Herb and Lime both huddled closer to the wounded warrior's prone form to hear him better.

After taking a few shaky breaths, Mint set about recounting his recollections of events. "He... He wanted to trap master Ranma in that form. He wanted to make _her_ his wife." The injured guard pushed himself to a sitting position from which he could look at both curse victims. There was an edge of despair to his words. "I could not stop him. I have failed you both. I promise I will find him and..."

"What!" Ranma squawked, springing into the Musk huddle. "That's crazy; there ain't no way pig-breath would do something like that!" The young Saotome's face scrunched up a bit. "Err, I mean, yeah, when he thought I was his fiancée he was sorta..." Feeling a little nauseated, for some reason, Ranma continued with a little less certainty. "It ain't like we need the Ladle anyway though, right? Won't that uhh, _Open Water Kettle_ will still get rid of this lock without it?"

Herb was having a terrible time controlling the powerful, aggressive, murderous feelings surging through her. On the one hand, venting them on anyone nearby would be inappropriate. Mint was already badly injured, Lime was fine but needed _not_ to be injured, and beating Ranma wouldn't solve anything. The ignorant Japanese martial artist was in almost as bad a position as her own. At last, Herb settled for waiting to destroy that 'Ryoga' and stewing. Her words were perhaps impolitely clipped when she responded, but that was far better than the pigtailed girl might have received. "Yes it will; however, we still need the Ladle. You seem to know him quite well, so you _must_ have some idea where he has taken it. Will you lead us to him?"

Ranma's expression was blank for a moment, but abruptly she started to make some rather loudchoking noises, and finished with snorting laughter. Herb could feel a vein rising to the surface of her temples. She was about to tear into the redhead when a good-humoured explanation of the bizarre reaction made itself known in between chuckles. "Yeah, see. You don't know Ryoga, so I guess you couldn't get it. Odds are, even _he_ doesn't know where he is, where this was, or where he's going. It took him four days to find an empty lot behind his house, once. It's sorta funny." She seemed to start paying attention, at that point, and her laugh became nervous. "Why... aheh... isn't that funny?"

"No way, that masterful tracker!" came Mint's astonished cry.

Herb, on the other hand, had found a place of calm in the storm of transcendent fury that had become her mind. _'Well,'_ a small, vicious voice commented, _'at least someone else will feel as miserable as me. All it will take is some truth.' _Moving past that stable place, Herb's aura sprang up unbidden as she yelled at the pigtailed girl. "It seems you do not mind being trapped in your female form for the rest of your days. Well _I_ won't stand for it. The Ladle is vital; it points the way to the Kettle when they are close, imbecile." Pausing to catch a breath, Herb sent an ugly sneer Ranma's way. "Without the Ladle, we have no clue where on, in, or around this 'mount Horai' the Kettle might even be. Do you imagine the previous owner was considerate enough to produce a giant sign pointing all and sundry to it?" Not bothering to wait on the reaction to her explanation, Herb spun on her heels, plucked a shopping bag from her sack, then thrust all but her recent purchases into Lime's hands.

"Use what you must to clean and dress Mint's wounds, then we move! Sleep waits tonight; I do not wish to deal with the natives who will be coming to investigate that powerful attack." With that, the Musk prince kept walking to the edges of the ruined earth and retreated into her mind, even as her aura retreated back into her body. Underneath it all, it came down to one extremely common, self-pitying question. _'Why me?'_

* * *

Covered in cuts, bruises, scratches, contusions, and minor injuries of every descriptor and all, as well as a mean gash in his lower back, Ryoga guessed that most people would think he had little reason to be grinning from ear to ear and uttering the occasional tear-choked cry of triumph. He did, however, because he had _done it_. He'd crushed the most physically powerful combatant he'd ever encountered, and beaten a sword-swinging psychopath at his own game. Sure, it was fall and he only had a sleeveless undershirt and a single pair of badly ripped pants left to his name. Admittedly, he had lost almost all his supplies to damages from the two life-and-death struggles. Yes, he was completely and totally lost, with even his maps taken from him. But in the end, all of these were just petty inconveniences beside the knowledge that the seemingly mundane metal ladle clutched tightly in his hands would free him from his humiliating and pathetic pig curse forever more. As a man in truth and in full, he would be able to confess his feelings for Akane at long last, and with her in his arms the only _ultimately_ meaningful competition with Ranma would be ended with he, not the hated Saotome, the victor.

In his generosity, Ryoga spared a thought to hope that Herb girl wouldn't be too upset when he gave her the ladle back. It would still be in good shape, he'd make sure of it, and the two guards had hardly been the worse for wear except for a large scratch on the smaller of the two, which he had bandaged immediately. Recalling the unprecedented beating the foreign princess had given his once-rival, Ryoga magnanimously decided to spend some time finding a new bucket for her ladle. The decision had nothing at all to do with not wanting to be anywhere near her in his current condition.

Now, he had merely to find the Indian Ocean again and he could set to pouring water from the ladle on himself, keeping him in his true form until he died a warm and loved death surrounded by the beautiful Akane and their many ill-defined children. _Hmm,_ _that's strange. I __**know**_ _I passed by it twice on my way to find those guys. Why can't I remember this sprawling cave complex? The geodesic formations and bio-luminescent fungi alone would normally be something a guy notices.'_ Abandoning it as irrelevant, he broke off a chunk of crystal to give as a present at some later date, and kept on walking.

All thought of the relative locations of various large geographic features was quickly wiped from the Lost Boy's mind; such were usually dark and painful, and as such had no place in the world of hope, wonder, and joy that the silly old spoon he was carrying had lifted him into. It was a world where a light, cool rain was something to be enjoyed on an otherwise warm day. That world held days at the beach, new chances to use public bathhouses, and him holding Akane tightly against him, at long last. He was crying without restraint at his beautiful future by the time he noticed the moon and stars were above him once more, and that beneath him lay a rocky lake shore.

Ryoga's feet carried him to the water's edge unbidden, his conscious mind now far away from the world he knew, and every step he took felt longer than the last. _'Of course, I __**should**_ _be taking this slow. Like a fine meal after months of forage, or a soak in a hot spring after a lengthy journey, this needs to be savoured.'_ As if sensing his thoughts, dark clouds passed before the moon, and an ominous trail of jagged lines of light banished the night nearby. By the time the thunder boomed out, Ryoga had reached the water and dipped the magical ladle into it. A wall of driving rain was rushing toward the bandana-clad martial artist while he stood, staring defiantly at it.

"This time, _I_ win, Jusenkyo!" His own roar rose above the thunder of the sudden storm, and the Lost Boy upended the ladle's contents on his head. The tool flew from his grasp, even as he found himself falling into and onto the cushioning confines of his own damaged clothing. He struggled free from the loose shirt over him on a reflex, and looked on where his hands should have been with increasingly horrified disbelief. The tiny, adorable, terrible trotters of his cursed form refused to be what they _should_, only blurring as helpless, defeated tears filled the now-piglet's unusually wide, expressive eyes.

"Bweee!" His cry of protest at the injustice visited upon him would have shocked any observer into wondering at how the haunting, broken noise could originate from a simple animal. The only creatures around were unlikely to make such observations, merely howling loudly to one-another as they closed in on easy prey. When the curtain of rain hit Ryoga, it had spent most of its fury, wearing down to a gentle shower that sounded just like laughter when it struck the rocky ground.

* * *

It was late. To Ranma, that understatement was on the level of "my father is an idiot", "Kuno is a bit of an oddball", and "Akane tends to have a few anger issues". The pace they were going at was manageable, but it was wearying to still be 'marching' when it was only hours before she would normally be awoken. Her tiredness was nothing next to the wheezing, gasping mess the trek had turned Lime into. It was hard to judge whether his weakness was a result of his fight with Ryoga earlier, or if he just had a lot less endurance than strength. Still, he had been running very awkwardly to keep from jostling Mint, who lay sleeping in his arms. _'It's kinda cute, actually. Like somethin' out of a TV Special.'_

The most frustrating part of their flight from the inevitable investigation of the site of Ryoga's massive attack had been Herb's refusal to engage with anything. The strange girl just kept moving as though she hadn't heard anyone, or just didn't care. Now that even she was starting to show signs of exhaustion, Ranma felt confident that she could force the issue.

Ranma put on a burst of speed to pull up beside the clearly brooding girl. "Me an' Lime here are stopping, now. You gonna join us?" Herb first frowned at her, but then turned to see her bodyguard struggling with every step, and gave a curt nod. They all came to a stop not far from there, and found a rock outcropping to lay down beside for the few hours they would be resting before starting up again.

Setting up her tent in record time, the cursed martial artist mentally prepared for a nice, well-earned sleep. She groaned, though, when she caught sight of the two guards lying on the ground, the more injured atop what appeared to be Herb's cloak, while their master sat nearby, staring off into space and obviously very agitated. It was inevitable, given all their things had been destroyed in the fights with Ryoga. With a grumble, she marched over to the taller girl. _'She'd just better appreciate this. Maybe I could show her how it's done.'_

"Hey, Herb. Whatcha looking at?" Saotome school of conversation starters: show interest.

The Musk prince only turned to give Ranma a reptilian glare, before growling, "is it important?"

Heating some, Ranma spat out, "What's your problem? I only came to thank you for how hard you're workin' at fixing that weird curse lock thing!

"Oh... and uh, being as you're a girl, and everything, I wanted to say you could use my tent." She felt she finished that a little awkwardly, but anyone would agree it was a nice recovery from angrily yelling her thanks.

Herb's suddenly blazing cheeks gave Ranma an early warning that, somewhere along the way, the message had been received wrong. Before she could backpedal at all, the prince's expression softened, marginally, and she looked back away, saying in little more than a whisper, "I see. It is not normally acceptable for me to share quarters with anyone, but you are right. It would be far _more_ unacceptable to seek warmth beside my guards."

For the highly sought-after Saotome, Herb's interpretation of her words was call for a red alert. Mistakes like that _always_ led to huge, confused melees, hurt feelings, and annoying lectures about being faithful to his 'true' fiancée, whomever the meddler happened to believe that was; a very frustrated voice within her railed against this. _'Why does __**everyone**_ _have to assume the worst?' _It also galled that every time she tried to explain herself, even she could tell it came out as idiotic babbling. "No! It ain't, see, what I was saying was _you_ could, but I wouldn't, and -".

Braced as she was for some manner of misdirected and ill-informed retribution, what confronted Ranma was the social equivalent of a sucker-punch. The tall girl's head turned back, and she seemed to puzzle something over, before her eyes widened and her refined face lit up from a tremendous smile. "I will wait until we have found the Kettle to determine what I _could_ do, just as you should wait until then to decide what exactly it is you _wouldn't; _even so, I will think on it. _Thank you._" The last was spoken with an absolute sincerity, and unmistakable gratitude.

_'Huh. She __**does**_ _know how to say it,'_ a dazed Ranma thought, while she was taken by the hand and all but dragged to her tent. Too late, mind caught up with events and her struggles against Herb's grip were in vain, as she was already sitting at the portable domicile's entrance. One more flustered attempt at escape was in order. "Hey! I said _you_ could use my tent, I'll be OK to sleep outside, really." The effect could have been more impressive.

Herb merely snorted, and said, showing teeth, "I have still not forgiven you for implying I would do harm to Mint." She kicked off her own boots, and then found a place to lie down, causing Ranma to stumble in due to her hand still being held. Drowsily, the Musk prince then explained, "you will need to sleep well. I intend to forgive you over sparring when we wake."

Ranma's hand was freed at last, and she was left with the question, _'how tired, or sick, can I afford to be when we fight?'_ A brief flashback to their first fight made the pigtailed martial artist give up on protecting herself from the repercussions of sleeping in the same tent as _any_ girl. _'If I wanna survive the week,'_ she reasoned, _'I've gotta survive the day.'_

That brought a twinge of worry to Ranma. Knowing what she now did, she could only assume her cursed martial arts rival had stolen the Musk ladle for one reason. He would need a hand living through his mistake. Curling up as far from Herb as she could, Ranma said, "if you're still worried about finding your kettle, don't be. If I know anything about magic, it's a guarantee that there _is_ a huge sign pointin' right to it."

"And how exactly do you know that?"

"'Cause magic likes to make people look stupid. Heck, I should know. You were hauling around a dangerous, important magic thing that ya _need_ to find the other magic thing; there's no way it won't be obvious, and shoved right in our face."

Herb's eyes cracked back open a fraction, "I think, just maybe, you might be on to something," she snorted a laugh. "Now sleep."

Seeing that her opponent was already well on her way to that objective herself, and that she had twice in one day managed to say the right thing to a girl, Ranma joined the race for rest feeling as though she'd already won.

* * *

The wind whipped Turmeric from every direction as he stared out at the rising sun. Hills, valleys, villages, and streams all drifted by far and away beneath him, even as the birds fell back at his side and the clouds sailed away on their own merry way above. For the first time in over a century, the aged prince held onto his kite for dear life, pushing himself along with a small amount of Ki while he let the wind do most of the work.

Turmeric wore a private smile at the thought of how, so long ago, the lookouts he'd flown above had had to report that they had seen neither hide nor hair of the king, and that he couldn't have passed by that way. He would take a break every few months to spend a few days with his wife, who would always yell at the then-monarch and strike him about the head when he fell from the sky just behind her. It also gave him a chance to see her daughter, who was every bit as vulgar, blunt, and, unyielding as her mother, but always wanted to prove how much she'd improved since his last visit. He still thought it a terrible shame she was born a girl; her fire and drive would have done much more for the Musk than Anise and his patient, reserved, thoughtful rule. She also would have been trained in the royal family's fighting arts, a lack the aged prince regretted even more.

Those were old things, and no longer had a place in the world beyond his memory, so newer grievances came into focus. Despite the extra effort he had put into it, Turmeric was nowhere near high enough to get a proper look at, or touch, one of the strange metal birds that had been growing in number for the last few decades. Their speed and size were astonishing. That a thing that couldn't be much smaller than a Musk temple could fly so _much_ faster than him with such apparent ease _deserved_ to be marvelled at. The Musk prince nodded, making plans to go searching for where they roosted, so he might learn how they accomplished that feat.

The simple quest would also rob king Tarragon's earlier jibe about retirement of some measure of its validity. _'I'm certainly not ready to retire. Die, maybe, at least once the succession is assured. Honestly, what is wrong with those two? __**I**_ _married the first woman who showed up as a candidate. Why would they make things so hard on themselves? Bah.'_ Despite being indirectly to blame for his current predicament, Turmeric was having a hard time holding it against the youngest Musk prince. He had no doubt that the young man had already found some nice young woman to torment with his rigidity and inflated ego. To his thinking, Herb had probably just wanted to get a little more time away from his father to properly enjoy his new bride. And who in his right mind would blame another for wanting to distance himself from Tarragon?

The elderly prince continued to glide through the cold winds, and wouldn't stop to land until late in the evening. He had much ground to cover if he was to ruin his great-grandson's honeymoon as ordered.

* * *

Mint had woken up to Lime. Lots and lots of Lime. Every one of his senses seemed to only have one possible focus. Lime's massively muscled arm was keeping him from moving. Lime's bulk was the only _lit_ object in his limited field of vision. His partner's scent was overpowering, giving away that he too had been sweating excessively for a very long time. He could even _taste_ the sharp scent of the bigger guard's exertions, much to his displeasure. Trying to wiggle free from the closeness brought home a raging _agony_ in his shoulder that set off all sorts of little aches and stabbing pains across the rest of his body. He whimpered softly, trying not to give in to the weakling urge to cry out his suffering.

Time passed, light increased, and Mint felt he was becoming accustomed to the pain. The heat, however...

Taking a breath of choking air, the small wolf clansman yelped out, "Lime, hey Lime, let go of me!"

The arm around him retracted almost immediately, giving Mint the room to look up at the other guard's weary face. "Did you sleep at all?" he asked, only to receive a growl in the negative. Of course Lime hadn't slept. _He _had been asleep. The obscenely strong guard had merely not noticed Mint's relatively powerless attempts to break free.

"Are you healthy? Can I?"

"Yeah."

And with that brief exchange only one of them was awake again. The huge warrior was _good_ at sleeping, when he wanted to be.

No longer pressed close to a humanoid furnace, the morning chill and the wind which carried it set about making Mint regret his unthinking reply. What was done was done, and he carefully slid out of the bundled clothes that comprised his and Lime's blanket, and off the long, white, slightly sweat-stained cloak that had served as his mattress. Herb's cloak, his waking mind informed him, assisted by the pain of trying to move around with a still badly injured limb.

All of their bedding, it seems, had been Herb's clothes. They were her spare, clean clothes, he was sure. Her scent would have been more pronounced, otherwise. Mint was unable to find his master, so he looked about for clues. It took him no time at all to locate her boot-prints and trace them to, but not back from, Ranma's tent. She, also, didn't appear to have left since entering.

It was everything Mint could do not to whoop and leap in joy. _'And I didn't even __**do**_ _anything,'_ he thought through his elation. _'I would've figured me and Lime messing up like that would have hurt Ranma's impression of the prince, but she's __**sleeping**_ _with her. Lime must have been really tired to be able to __stay conked out_ _knowing that.'_

The smaller bodyguard, for his part still sore, aching, and cold, didn't think he'd be up for sleep again any time soon. He started listing off the things he had to take care of that morning before everyone else dragged themselves up from their rest. "I must make breakfast, and clean the laundry, and change my bandages." The last, said in a matter-of-fact manner, drew a small "oh!" from him before he set to work on seeing the severity of his injury, and what his master might have added to it.

Biting his lower lip, the young warrior peeled away the bandage and dressing. The long line of puckered flesh was to be expected. The small, uneven abscesses, too, were expected. That they were so few in number, and very shallow, was the real wonder. Herb had sealed his wound with almost no additional damage from Chi poisoning. There would be no permanent harm at all. He would have full use of the arm as soon as strong scar tissue formed. Mint had been trained by a man who had needed similar emergency care from Herb's father, on a smaller wound, and still the man had needed his hand replaced with a metal substitute.

The wolf clansman had managed to rummage through the bare remains of the food he'd purchased less than half a day prior to produce a meal of assorted chopped vegetables – the only way to prepare them that ensured an absence of shards of rock – some very lucky yogurt mixed with grains, and heavily salted, flaky tuna. The first person up to enjoy it turned out to be his master's intended, who crawled out of her tent quiet as a ghost while casting frequent, nervous glances behind her.

"Hey Mint. You're lookin' better," the redhead said warmly once she had gotten very near to him.

The guard flushed and shoved his face into the fish in his wooden bowl to drown out the powerful scent of the recently very active, and very attractive young woman who was to be his prince's husband-wife-confusing thing. "Good morning, master Ranma. I have prepared a bowl for you." Mint muffled out his own greeting, while gesturing to the side with the elbow of his wounded arm.

"Great! I'm starved." Following that pronouncement, the redhead swept up both food and utensils and seated herself to dig in with gusto. He cautiously looked up from his own meal to see her devouring hers.

Ranma looked absolutely _terrible_. He stopped himself short of laughing. Her braid was glued to her neck by sweat, her clothes were rumpled, and she moved awkwardly to compensate for obviously sore muscles. She was quite literally drooling around the mouthfuls of food she refused to wait to swallow before adding to, and her eyes were tight from weariness. It seemed that not just Lime had dealt with a long night. When his prince exited the tent she'd shared with Ranma looking to be in much the same miserable state as everyone else, Mint _did_ laugh.

Herb's twitching eyes fell on him, but there was more curiosity there than malice, so he let the absurdity of his thoughts come to a natural conclusion. _'Even women,'_ he realized, _'can look awful.'_

"Something I'm missing?" Ranma asked the heir to the Musk Dynasty, even as she chewed, resulting in flecks of food flying all over.

The prince shook her head at that, scooting slightly further from the fountain of pre-chewed projectile victules. "I have no idea what has gotten into him. Perhaps your associate has damaged him worse than I presumed." So saying, she approached and picked up a bowl herself. Apparently, she was too hungry to finish getting answers. Herb ate with forced dignity while casting envious glares at the more rapid pace of consumption Ranma was keeping.

That was enough. Mint _had_ to say something. "My apologies, prince Herb." Having wheezed that out, he tried to elaborate. "I never expected to see you like I used to again. I was foolish to think that anything was different."

"If it causes you to stop making yourself a fool, I will accept that." Herb huffed out in reply, before returning to eating as quickly as dignity would allow. Ranma was grinning broadly around the food she'd crammed into her mouth.

"Do you want to bathe before I clean our clothes, master?"

Herb gave an enthusiastic shake of her head in response. "No. I am bound to beat our new travelling companion within an inch of her life."

"Heh, like that'll happen, _princess_." The pigtailed martial artist objected with confidence.

Herb barked a laugh, then pointed at her partner with her chopsticks. "I can assure you that I will be victorious; experience is on my side. I look forward, though, to learning where your delusion stems from."

When the two stood and distanced themselves from camp to fight, Mint watched two prideful women face off. He wondered how angry Herb would be when he told her he'd been too distracted by the astonishing martial arts 'sparring match' to do any actual cleaning whatsoever.

* * *

An insistent call brought Akane back from the brink of blessed unconsciousness, leaving her blinking stupidly until the call came back again, more clearly.

"Tendo-, Miss Tendo Akane!" The teen now recognized her English teacher's voice, which he had raised well above his normal, placid tone.

"Y- yes?" She flushed while responding, and stifled an insistent yawn. Akane was not at all used to _being_ the classroom's disruption.

"It seems you are learning some rather bad habits from your house guest, Miss Tendo. Could we disturb you for a moment to translate the second line of the third paragraph on page 178? It was in your homework, so it shouldn't be much trouble for you."

_'Which would be true,' _she reflected, _'if I had done my homework.'_ Trying to keep her groan of despair soft, the Tendo heir opened her textbook to the appropriate page and prepared to fake it, translating as she read the lines for the first time. "I was... too tired... for task...no, to _do _the assignment?" Her voice raised in both pitch, and sheepishness with each and every syllable, as an awkward smile formed itself on her face.

She received a quick nod from mister Honda. "You managed it well, Miss Tendo. Find the time to do your assigned work next time, if you would." With that, he carried on with teaching, and did _not_ ask Akane to read much more, thankfully. At times she had trouble deciding whether she would be glad to see this particular instructor transfer across the city or not.

Lunch was much more the youngest Tendo's speed on that day. She slipped on her jacket, picked up the meal her eldest sister had prepared, and found an unoccupied bench outside the school building to consume it from. She may have eaten a _little_ quickly.

A slightly taller girl in the school boy's uniform though soon enough threw herself down on the bench beside her. "Way to wing it in class there, Akane!"

"Thanks, Ukyou." She managed at least that pleasantry, despite how tired she was.

The other girl needed friends, given her tough position. According to official documentation Kuonji Ukyou _was_ a boy, registered as such in almost every place a person could care to look. She'd confided once that her birth certificate alone contradicted the lie. She still made some concessions to the farce, such as binding her breasts, wearing boys' uniforms, and participating in their school curriculum.

_'Granted,'_ Akane conceded, watching her sometimes friend, sometimes 'rival' set up the portable grill she carried with her to school most days, _'it isn't like she needs to learn how to cook or manage money.'_

"Ucchan's", the okonomiyaki restaurant Ukyou managed, cooked for, and was the sole server at, was getting the girl all the money she needed to support herself. Akane had thought she would stop being jealous of other girls when she got over her crush on the young doctor that her sister Kasumi had already stolen the heart of. Discovering that one her own age was an accomplished martial artist, entrepreneur, _and_ still managing to get passable marks in school had really robbed the blue-haired girl of that illusion.

"Hey, why are you so sleepy lately, anyway, sugar?" The question startled Akane out of her musings.

"Oh, you know." Akane said, feeling silly about explaining. "It's just there are two schools of martial arts beekeepers that petitioned our dojo to keep their competition clean and..." Fiddling with her short hair, Akane tried a joke. "Both of them had more dirty tricks than uncle Saotome." She paused briefly. "And I swear, if I hear another joke from everyone about pollinating, I will just- I will just smash the next person I see's face in." She snorted. "Perverts."

It got an awkward laugh out of Ukyou; though she took a bit more towards the former of her two comments. Ranma's father was the reason she had such a bizarre life in the first place. Having set up and fuelled the stand from which she'd sell her family's speciality pancakes, the girl clapped Akane on the back, bringing on wave after wave of agony. "Well damn, girl! I'm amazed you're not a mass of stings."

Akane thought she mastered the pain better than most, but her open-mouthed, silent scream, probably gave away _where_ a literal handful of bee assassins had managed to score hits. That or the way she fell off her seat.

"Err... Sorry," the other girl said awkwardly, helping her back to the bench. "How 'bout I give you something on the house to apologize?"

Restoring her dignity, Akane gave a strained smile, and bubbled out a, "thanks Ukyou."

"I guess it's usually Ranma who gets the worst of those things, huh?"

_'True enough.'_ Akane recognized that her fiancé tended to get more than his fair share of trouble. She just assumed it would _follow_ him. _'Guess it likes the dojo just fine, Ranma or no.'_

Fidgeting with the ribbon holding back her long, chestnut hair, Ukyou carried on with that sticking point. "You talked to him lately?" Every time their mutual fiancé came up, things tended to get tense between them. It was a shame, since Akane was pretty sure the two of them could have really been best friends. Given what Ukyou had invested in _her_ engagement, the wedge was going nowhere fast.

Letting out a sigh for lost opportunity, Akane nodded and got a wistful look. "Yeah, he calls every couple days or so to hear what we're doing in class. He's going to be gone for at least another couple weeks though, because the Musk don't want to, or can't take the trains."

"Why's that?" Ukyou asked, even as she started preparing some pancakes, sign advertising specials to her side. "Even the amazons ride."

"Well, he says it's because _they_ don't exist, according to their government."

"So Ranma seriously got swept off by a fairy tale princess?"

Akane gave a snort at that. "You and Nabiki. Ranma's just going there to fix the curse lock and prove that he didn't _really_ lose to a girl. I bet he's so busy trying to beat her he hasn't even noticed what she looks like."

"Which is hauntingly beautiful, little sister," the middle Tendo sister chirped as she slid up and ordered a spicy pancake against Ukyou's existing debt to her, all while counting out a small stack of yen. "Hope she sticks around, you won't believe what the geeks were willing to pay for photos of a real to life half-dragon princess."

Incredulous, Akane accepted the first shrimp pancake from the grill, wondering all the while how Ukyou could cook so well when she was scowling at something nowhere near the food. "You took enough pictures of her to make money off Herb in the five minute she was standing outside our house!"

"Of course!" Her mercenary sister's bright response added a new dimension to the twitch in Akane's eye. "Hey, I have to keep up with uncle Saotome."

"Why would ya wanna 'keep up' with the dirty thief, honey?" Ukyou's steely gaze betrayed a strong animosity. It was fortunate that her pancakes never suffered from her moods.

"Ukyou, dear, that 'dirty thief' has been executing an expert emotional blackmail ploy on our father since a very foolish joke he made. I would've fallen way behind if I weren't abusing the image of a foreign royal and complete stranger!" The reference was to the silent treatment that Saotome Genma was giving their father in order to acquire loot in apology.

"B- Behind?" Akane almost couldn't bear to hear what would invariably come next.

"Behind in unearned revenue, sister dear. It'd be a scandal if I lost to a smelly old panda!"

_'Yeesh,'_ Akane realized, _'Ranma's dad is a horrible influence on her.'_ Finding that Nabiki and Ukyou were now talking animatedly about other scams that needed to be surpassed, she turned her attention elsewhere in the school yard. _'__I swear,_ _If I listen to her too much, I'll be obligated to call the police.'_

She would have loved to learn _why_ Shampoo had joined Ranma's friends Hiroshi and Daisuke for lunch, toting along meals for all of them, she really would have. But Kuno Tatewaki, known to all as 'The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High', dressed in his Kendo uniform in clear defiance of school dress codes, descended upon Akane with a bouquet of roses in a gesture of twisted 'love', and his wooden sword to challenge her skill. Sleep-deprived and in pain as she was, it was almost the end of lunch by the time the youngest Tendo had flattened her most persistent admirer, and her pancake had grown cold, too.

"Say, sugar?" Ukyou asked as she packed away her supplies.

Trying not to sound too dejected, Akane mumbled out, "yeah?"

"Can you maybe ask him to... call _me_... at some point?"

"Yeah."

She would ask it of him, at that. And Ranma would agree to do it, no less. Then, just like with his mother, he would get caught up in whatever nonsense he was a part of and forget everything.

Saotome Nodoka, who had been missing her son for the last ten years, was now missing that son's female alter ego, "Ranko", pretty badly, too. She was visiting the Tendo residence to spend time with her 'future daughter-in-law' almost every other day now. Sometimes it seemed as if the Saotome family was only so odd as it was to make her own family look normal in comparison.

* * *

Herb was nervous. More accurately, she was experiencing an acute case of anxious dread. Over a week of trekking across the Japanese wilderness, such as it was, had made the opportunity presented by the open air hot spring almost too good to pass up. Being _clean_ and _warm_ again had grown into a fantasy for Herb and, if the hopeful, overlong glances they'd given the advertisements for the place were any indicator, so had it been with all of her companions. It _still_ felt like the very most important thing in the world, but there were mitigating factors at work. More accurately, there was one overwhelming mitigating factor at work, right behind the panicking prince's back. The two of them were alone in the woman's change room at the nearly abandoned hot spring, but the addition of Ranma made the process of undressing almost unbearably frightening.

As a rule, a Musk prince does not expose more than the flesh of his face, hands, or feet before any but his wife, or professionals absolutely requiring such. Nothing he had read explained the reason for the tradition. To be sure, others _had_ caught glimpses of more, and at this, much of Herb's body flushed from her remembering the inexplicable number of times one or another of her bodyguards had done so over the course of their journey thus far. To be sure, neither Lime nor Mint would look intentionally, but a very large, uncharitable part of Herb's mind maintained that they were also not _intentionally_ working to reduce the frequency of such accidents.

The problem was with Ranma. Despite her nervousness and shameful fear, the other curse victim had extended her hand in a bid of _friendship_. Then, despite her short temper and spiteful comments, had offered to share a tent with her. It was an unasked for and certainly unexpected kindness that had made the troubles facing her just a little more surmountable. All of that paled beside the thrill of their few sparring matches. Ranma had made a miserable showing of his skills in their first encounter, and the more Herb learned of his style and how it functioned, the clearer it became that it could have gone no other way. The Anything Goes School of martial arts was well-named, since over the last week Herb had been subjected to a dizzying array of combat techniques from countless styles, all woven together as though they _belonged_ to one, unbroken Art.

It seemed that a student of Anything Goes tailored their style to the enemies they faced. If it hadn't been for her superior speed and mastery of her specific Art, Herb had no doubt that the Japanese martial artist would be scoring more than just regular glancing blows. The heir to Musk Dynasty still won every engagement, even restricting herself to the lower style, but she had to wonder how much further she would be pressed by the time she had to return Ranma to Nerima. She still wasn't entirely sure she _wanted_ to do that. Ranma's vivid blue eyes, always meeting hers and always filled with determination despite defeat and disappointment, never flinching, and presenting a persistent challenge to make them do so, would be sorely missed by the young prince. Even so, she had sworn to return the pigtailed martial artist to her home, and it had become part of her duty.

Duty _also_ demanded that Herb sire a new heir to the Dynasty, something she had been worried might not be _possible_. _'But... Ranma __**has**_ _shown an interest, even if a small one, in me. She, and he, knows about my curse; he even has the same one. I only went to Jusenkyo to learn if a victim of the Spring of Drowned Girl curse would be able to bear my children. Would he, or she, be able to accept that? Would it be possible to __**test**_ _something like that without...' _Herb's body reddened further, and she worked to arrest that train of thought immediately.

The occasional... _pleasant... _dream of the last few days made it a no-longer safe subject to dwell on. Those had been very vague, but she had the distinct impression that she had not necessarily been male in all of them, and the _other characters_ also might have been inappropriate. She had known that there were more than a few people whose 'sexual preferences' changed after being cursed, but nowhere had the guidebook described an increase in sexual awareness and interest such as she was presently experiencing.

"Hey. Are ya coming?"

The sudden voice intruding on her thoughts had Herb's heart leaping into her throat. She inhaled sharply, and weakly responded, "I was collecting my thoughts." After a moment of reclaiming a proper rhythm to her breaths, and thanking the heavens that Ranma had been just as keen on not changing where they could see one-another, Herb continued stiffly. "You may precede me; I will not be long."

"Alright," was the only response, before the pigtailed girl padded off toward the springs.

When she was fully alone, the Musk prince gave her head a long shake to clear it of the images conjured within. Finding that both unhelpful and dizzying, she hoped that the towel she was carrying, along with steam from the water, might hide how red she was _before_ setting foot into the heated pools. Carefully unfastening the ties on her clothing, she dropped all the articles into a basket provided to her for her patronage. After cleaning herself efficiently with shockingly cold water, Herb fastened a clean, white towel about her torso. Careful to keep it from dropping, she followed out to the springs themselves.

The chill air outside pushed her along to the water's edge, where its steaming warmth could be felt clearly. The spring was as empty as the locker room had been, which meant that there was only a mass of red hair visible through the heat haze. Already eager to slip into the hot water and seeing that Ranma would not be able to observe her, Herb unwrapped her towel and submerged herself. Muscles that had been bothering her since shortly after she left the cargo ship in Tokyo harbour, and others from more recent events, started in on the long, slow process of loosening, causing the dragon prince to sigh in relief. Out of the corner of her eye, Herb could see that the other curse victim's head had changed orientation to be facing directly away from her. _'It's good he has so much respect for my privacy,' _she reflected, with much relief and a few other confused feelings.

Even if it was a bit embarrassing just being there with someone else, Herb knew this was the best chance likely to appear for a relaxed discussion that neither Lime nor Mint would overhear. The two had grown insufferable, even if they _had _started paying attention to something other than breasts. Wetting dry lips, and crushing down nervousness, she decided to comment on something safe. "This is exceptionally pleasant. Better even than the baths in the palace. Do you have many occasions to visit such places?"

The petite girl fidgeted for a moment, before making a quiet reply. "Not so much anymore. It isn't exactly convenient, since Jusenkyo. Can't wash in the man's change room, and can't bathe on the woman's side. I can go, if I want to, but it just reminds me how much the curse sucks. 'Course, being stuck the wrong way's no better. "

"Is it very much trouble, changing all the time?"

"Kinda sorta… it's mostly when I'm too distracted to notice, and people will start treatin' me like a girl all of a sudden. I feel a bit like an ass when I go off on them before catching on. Can't just be biting peoples' heads off 'cause they don't know my life story, y'know?"

Herb nodded her head in understanding. The guidebook had said much the same thing, only couched in more scholarly terms such as "social expectations" and "normative behaviours".

Out of the blue, Ranma took the initiative, pushing aside a curtain of loose hair to look Herb's way before bluntly asking, "why's your hair all those different colours? I mean, is it just some freaky part-dragon thing like your eyes?"

Herb scowled at the use of the word "freaky" to describe her, and responded crisply. "Descendants of Vanilla all have much the same hair colour, and yes, irises. We also share a similarity in stature, build, and many features. I, at this moment, do not look much dissimilar from her portrait at the palace aside from a blessed lack of restraints." In spite of the all-pervasive heat of the springs, the image that conjured of her switching places with her inhuman ancestor sent chills up and down the prince's spine.

"Huh. Guess there's only so much dragon somethin' can lose?"

"That's what some of the scholars of that time assumed, as well. They were more useful than their poetic contemporaries, who searched for pretty words to describe things over plain ones."

"Yeah. I'm not so fond of the poets myself." Ranma scrunched up her nose cutely, then laughed a little. "What kind of stuff did your poets have to say?"

Herb shrugged, then answered in hopes of learning what her companion's peculiar problem with versifiers might be. "They wrote something along the lines of 'the celestially beautiful, sinuous mistress of the clouds, who so loved the birth and death of the Sun that she laced its light into her mane' to describe her. They said 'even in a woman's guise, her majesty and devotion shone through her reduced form and that of all her young'."

"Yeah, that sounds like the kinda junk they'd say. I _guess_ I can see where they were coming from." A silent moment passed, then Ranma began waving her arms furiously, saying loudly and in a near panic, "I mean, with the hair thing! Not that..."

More didn't seem to be forthcoming from the smaller girl, whose own hair was currently hanging loose, so Herb let the comment pass and thought on it. _'Could he find this body __**attractive**__? That would certainly be an inroad to what I need to ask, if a bizarre one.'_ Looking down into the dark water, the Musk prince admired the face looking back at her. _'Well, you're not that much different from my other form's. It's a chance, but who else is there?'_

Well, there was Ranma's problem with women to think about.

"You are engaged to wed, or pursued by quite a number of women. Are you planning to marry one of them? All of them? None?" The question was tactless, would certainly be uncomfortable, and there was no reason to believe the martial artist lounging in the water within arm's reach would answer. She also needed to know the answer.

"Hey! _I _didn't ask for _any_ of them. What makes you think I've got a choice in it, anyway?" Ranma's voice was raised; she was glaring and looked positively livid.

"I did n-"

"No, jus' try not to go on a homicidal frenzy. I want nothin' to do with Shampoo 'cause she's a crazy backwoods foreigner who spent weeks hunting me down to murder me 'cause I beat her in a fight and now makes lovey-dovey all the time. I've got no idea what makes her think I even _want_ that. It isn't like I can get rid of her, though. D'you think Cologne's not around to ensure I keep her as an option? Yeah, I can deal with Shampoo and the trouble she brings, but I'm not stupid enough to think the old mummy won't do something dangerous if I completely drop the psycho. I'm not dumb enough to think I can protect everyone from that, whatever anyone says.

"And Ukyou's, like, a friend I had for a couple months when I was a kid. I thought she was a friggin' _boy_. She spent, like, _ten years_ of her life training to kill me and renounced being a girl 'cause my old man tricked me into agreeing to run off with her family's food stand. Then, within a couple days of meetin' me, she was trying to marry me! I like her plenty most of the time, but she might be crazier than Shampoo! I _could_ have told her to get the hell out of my life, too, but then my idiot father _outright declared that she was my fiancée_. What was the miserable panda even thinking?"

Ranma couldn't stop. She was ranting at full steam now. Months of pent up anger and frustration were culminating in a single moment where she could just vent her frustrations out on a person who at least was somewhat of a neutral party in this whole mess. Without missing a single beat, she continued on.

"Oh, an' don't even get me started on Kodachi. Let me tell ya, she should be in an institution gettin' cured of whatever the hell filled her with seven different kinds of crazy."

"Now the _only_ one of em' that isn't a complete nutjob, psychopath, or wacko is Akane. And you know what? Her older sister that hardly says anything mean about anyone says 'she's really a sweet girl, it's just she's a violent maniac'. And even with that I bet we _could somehow still_ get along if our idiot fathers, her _evil_ middle sister, all the psychos and nutjobs I mentioned, and more would just leave us the hell alone! So yeah, maybe I don't know about Akane, but even if I hated her guts, I'm _still_ honour-bound to marry her and that _can't_ happen since I'm honour-bound to marry _Ukyou_, too, and odds are Cologne'll use some stupid scary Amazon martial arts bullshit to kill or mind-screw everyone I know or give a damn about if I don't pick Shampoo!"

As Ranma's tirade came to a close, she was standing, dripping water, and breathing heavily. Herb was surprised to find herself backed against the wall of the hot spring, sitting up and revealing more of her body than she would have been comfortable with. Some calm, reserved part of her mind idly noted that perhaps all the foolery Ranma and her "friends" had engaged in back at the Cat Café were not so much the sort of thing that she enjoyed. Trying not to let an elevated heart rate impinge on her dignity, Herb attempted some diplomatic, placating words. "You are bound by duty, then. Perhaps as much as I am."

If it had any positive effect, it was perhaps that the furious martial artist sat back down instead of stomping off. "Yeah? Well what's _your_ 'duty' all about anyway, huh? You've been asking me a bunch of stuff about my life while we ran around, so I might as well learn why yours is screwed up and how it's probably gonna mess up mine worse." The petulant, accusatory request made, Ranma folded her arms in front of her and waited.

Herb, finding it difficult to form a real response to that, opted to stall while she prepared one that was coherent and served the intended purpose. From the selection of, _'if he were my servant I would beat him within an inch of his life'_, _'she is such a beautifully built, tiny girl'_, and _'he just won't understand my responsibilities'_, the last threads of immediately available thoughts in her excited, heat-addled mind, she didn't have much to work with.

"I am responsible for quite a lot, you know. You will not understand _what_ my duties are, and _why_ they are so urgent if you are not made aware." As the words tumbled forth, with precision and very little emotion, Herb began working out how to proceed. Her words grew sterner, even as she looked out across the steaming pool in which they both sat. "I will require you to speak and act as if what I say is in good faith. If you do not, I will want to do you great harm, something which I am _bound_ to avoid."

"Ya sound like my pops when he's getting ready to make up some lame excuse."

A natural stone bench beneath the surface of the water developed cracks and fissures where the Musk prince's fingers began to press into it. To herself, she mumbled, "we both owe that hideous hag quite a lot for the promise she extracted."

Loudly, with little care that Lime or Mint would hear from the pool they were no doubt recovering and relaxing in, Herb fired off _her_ list of complaints with life all the while glaring daggers. "Very well then. I am the last heir to a ridiculously tiny, endangered, forgotten people living out in Quinghai province. Both my father and great-grandfather, my only living relatives I'm aware of, are well advanced in their years and are mean-spirited, sadistic monsters through-and-through.

"_I_ am charged with ensuring that our people survive another generation, despite our dwindling treasury, lack of meaningful contribution to or _from_ the rest of the world, and a birth rate that makes China's 'one child only' law seem like a good bit of _mockery_, since most Musk families have to work for years to manage even _that_. My own father spent the better part of five decades and two wives getting to _me_, and Heaven knows he has _yet_ to shut up about how disappointed he is in _that_ outcome."

Placing one hand over her breast and flinging the other out wide, Herb pressed on. "And do you think _that_ is the worst of what I must face? Hardly, It is _my_ duty to ensure that the Musk arts, way of life, histories, and treasures remain strong and intact. Mind you, all this is in spite of the fact that I have learned that the Communist Party of China has little to no respect for or _memory_ _of_ our people's contribution to the current state of the Middle Kingdom. They would just as happily subsume us as they have the iron men, _if they knew we existed at all._ Looking at the state of your country, I have my doubts about us remaining unintentionally hidden and separate for very long at all.

"Oh, and do not think that's where it ends! Because fate has thrown me, what I _hoped_ was a last, vicious blow to my chance of _succeeding _in my life. _I already failed at all of my duties before I started._ I am free from all those responsibilities because I am physically incapable of living up to them."

Seeing that Ranma was not about to interrupt, Herb grew more despondent and less angry, her voice falling down in volume commensurately. She kept her gaze trained on the other girl, now, to make herself better understood and to _dare_ her to say anything ill. "I am incapable of having children. So say all the wise men, alchemists, soothsayers, witches, and oracles I have spoken with. Even the men of _'science'_ have thrown their hands up. There will be no princes of the Musk to follow after me. Given that, I can never be king. My father will die on the throne. My great-grandfather will no doubt replace him and live a thousand years miserable and hating everyone around him because the old bastard refuses to die like normal men. I would wager by then that only a handful of Musk will remain. Perhaps I still will, doomed to live just as long as the old man himself, useless to everybody." Her voice got hoarser, more ragged as she continued. It was terrible to say those things, but it relieved even more pressure than the springs themselves had.

The red-haired girl did interrupt, then, looking even more miserable than when she'd been going over her life. "Aww, jeez, I'm sorry Herb. I didn't mean to be a jerk about it... I shoulda known other people had problems too. Look, just, don't cry, alright? Just don't. I mean, there's gotta be something you can do, even if I ain't got any ideas right now, but-"

"I am a prince of the Musk. I am _not_ crying." Earlier experience did not support Herb's denial, and she was fairly certain the lie was as bald-faced as they came, so she kept going forward with her explanation despite how rough and uneven her voice was becoming. "And I thought there was something that might help. It... there was a monk who thought that Jusenkyo might hold the answer. That its influence was needed, now, as it was just over a thousand years ago. The... the Ladle, and the pools, finding you, and the Kettle, and all of _this_." She took some deep, mucus-filled breaths before submerging her face beneath the water. It stung, but cleared away some of the mess her attempts at explanation were causing. When she lifted her head back up, Ranma was much closer, and holding out a towel to her.

Without a word, aware of how weak it made her look and filled with self-loathing at being unable to master herself, Herb reached for the proffered article and pushed her face into it.

It took her a moment to tune in to the fact that Ranma was talking. The words were soothing, and very hopeful. "...'t gotta worry, really. I mean, Ryoga _always_ shows up eventually." That didn't seem all that important, but at least it would make finding the Kaisuifuu simple. "Then you'll have the _other_ artifact, so you can lock and unlock your curse when you want to."

_'Why would I __**ever**_ _want to lock my curse again after this travesty?'_

"I mean, wow, that's smart. If the spring worked for a dragon, it would be bound to work for a _part-_dragon, right? So yeah, we'll find that Kettle, get assaulted by Ryoga eventually 'cause he _never_ stays gone for long, beat the crap outta him for taking your Ladle, and then you'll be able to be a mom by using Jusenkyo! See? You just have to go forward with what you were planning and the goof-up'll handle the rest for us."

Herb dropped the towel in her hands as she veritably gawked at the redhead speaking to her.

* * *

"Prince or no," the astrologer had said, "I value my family's reputation too much to give you a pretty fortune. There is _no_ suitable wife for you in this world."

His home had looked better as a pile of rubble. Herb ignored the man's screams, sure that he would find someone less inept eventually.

* * *

"What do I look like, boy, a goddess? I'd smile at the compliment and laugh if you thought I'd believe you. I can't make a mule a stud no matter how much you glow and yell at me. Now either find someone who can, or at least find somewhere else to be uselessly angry."

Herb would only learn weeks later that the witch's home, which had been lifted into the heavens by a 'freak' hurricane of uncommon power, had landed on a farm girl. He never figured out how news companies had known it was an act of petty, symbolic vengeance without even knowing about his involvement.

* * *

"Look," the reiki practitioner reasoned. "You're obviously in phenomenal shape. I'm not arguing that. It's just that, spiritually, you're such an incredible mess I'm scared to even touch you. I've never seen anyone, or anything, with pathways like yours. Have you suffered any massive physical or mental traumas? Perhaps a string of them?"

Herb's eyes narrowed. "No," came his taciturn reply, one hand flexing and clenching repeatedly where it crossed over the opposite arm's elbow.

More nervous, now, the specialist scratched at his cheek. "I just can't understand why you'd be so _very_ different from any patient I've ever studied before, or how you could maintain such balanced and absurdly high levels of energy throughout you."

Scowling, the Musk prince made his original request again, slowly and deliberately. "I am hoping to take a bride soon. I have reason to believe impregnating her will prove time-consuming at best. I do not care to hear how bizarre my chi system is; that is to be expected given my lineage. Can you do anything to ensure my virility, or not?"

Getting the hint, the current victim of Herb's attention frowned. "I could easily do so if your chi flow resembled any sort of normal person's." The words had been spoken haltingly, uncertainly. His confidence returned when he said, "I can also study the current workings of your body to determine a _likely_ solution, if you'll relax."

Within a half-minute of starting, the hand the healer was using to trace Herb's chi pathways lost all feeling and hung limp at the end of his arm. It stayed that way for most of a week, leaving the Musk heir largely content with the punishment the failure had inflicted on himself.

* * *

It was a defeated prince of the Musk who stumbled out of the fertility clinic in Beijing. He had been told, time and again, that his problem was without solution by every sort of reputable specialist the Middle Kingdom had to offer. Now, it seemed, even the charlatans and hucksters of "Western medicine" had given up on his problem.

_'How can I even return home?'_ He thought to himself, unwilling to imagine the response his father would have to his ultimate failure as a man and heir to the Dynasty. Even the thought of how terribly it would affect the king couldn't lift Herb's mood. There was nothing left. His family, and then his people, would die out unnoticed by the teeming hundreds of millions in the Middle Kingdom alone. It wasn't his fault; he _was_ the fault. In a daze, he returned to the spartan room he'd rented for himself, packed his things, and fell back out into the street. He purchased some food without paying attention to what it was, how much it cost, or how much he had given.

To all sides people passed on foot, on bicycles, or in covered vehicles emitting noxious fumes. 'Automobiles,' Herb distractedly identified them. Through the unending throng of humanity he pushed, occasionally noting something that made him loathe it, himself, or both. A fat, weak, sweaty, balding man wearing a ridiculous, monochromatic getup dragged a plump, weak, sweaty, screaming child wearing much the same behind him. Bile rose in the Musk prince's throat; the buffoon was still a better man than him. If all and sundry were to be believed, he always would be, and so might his pathetic child one day be.

It was nightfall and Herb walked on, still. With so little energy in his movements, there was much of Beijing left to traverse before he would find himself free from its long reach. He imagined that he'd passed by more people in that day than there had _ever been_ Musk, living and dead, in their many thousands of years of history. If the charlatans were to be believed, he'd have better luck impregnating a dragon than some human girl. If the sparse history of interaction with those creatures was any indication, he might also face similar odds spilling his seed in the wind and hoping for a miracle as he would trying to locate one.

A cheerful, pleasant voice cut through his mental haze. "Ahh! Your disgraced eminence, what a curious fortune to meet you this evening."

At the spectacularly improper form of address, Herb's head whipped around to find that it had been _him _referred to as such, by a man with a shaved pate and robes that might once have been sky blue before dust and frequent wear had reduced them to a slate grey. The monk, and such he must have been, wore an imbecilic grin on his taut face and was propped up against his walking stick, in the pit of his arm. His ears stuck out nearly perpendicular from the side of his head and his eyes seemed to be looking in every direction _but_ Herb's.

"You have mistaken me for someone else." Too depressed to mount a towering rage at the feeble-minded ascetic, the failed heir to the Musk Dynasty contented himself with that and kept walking.

Only, he was no longer walking alone. "Ha! Yes, this one has been known to mistake the Sun for the Moon and Earth for Sky."

Scowling, Herb prepared to push the man away and tell him to pester someone else with his dehydrated, starved, sun-maddened 'wisdom'. On finding the arm intended for the task ended in a hand carrying a heavily bruised peach, the Musk prince scowled and scolded himself for his inattention.

"I will absolutely refuse to bring specific attention to the fruit you're carrying, and aren't going to eat. Do not mind me, I am only stretching my arm, coincidentally in your direction, and limbering up my hand by making grasping motions at nothing in particular that you are certainly carrying."

Indeed. The man was extending his arm out in Herb's direction. His hand, too, was opening and closing, although it seemed very doubtful that these efforts were so unfocused as the clearly touched monk was making them out to be. Still, after the final disappointment of the day Herb could no more bring himself to eat than if he had filled his stomach with stones. With a grunt, he placed the peach in the other man's hand before quickening his pace.

He didn't lose his new companion. "Well alright, it seems your keen mind has no more vanished than your unthinking majesty." The monk barked out a laugh. "Do not be concerned, who would _simple me_ tell of your presence here?"

Herb tensed at the implied threat, then looked at the man with new, warier eyes. It did not seem to affect him, and he carried on blithely. "Would you share a story of what troubles one who has abandoned all trouble? I hazard it might put both our concerns to rest." He then placed a hand behind his left ear to curve it towards the Musk prince, not that there was any appreciable benefit.

Looking around to ensure that his blackmailer was the only person around, he was a bit astounded to find this to actually be the case, despite feeling that there were numberless hordes wherever he turned mere minutes ago. Without batting an eye though, Herb spoke softly, but firmly. "What is it you desire? If you speak of this, I will ensure that there is nothing left of you in this world."

Completely unmoved, to Herb's shock, the monk waved the threat away as irrelevant. His voice remained jovial, his posture _friendly._ "A good one! No, as I have said, the secret of your endless procession of failures and shames is safe with me, eminence. I seek only to repay a gift with a favour. I can do no less, and will do no more."

Still doubtful, but unsure of the danger the man could actually pose, the Musk heir said simply, "I have had some disappointments in my efforts to secure an heir. It is ultimately no concern of yours, and entirely mine. Now, if you will leave, I have no time to deal with you or whatever trouble you might bring."

But it _wasn't_ done. "Oh! Your memory is so poor in your old age, oh incomparably dishonoured one. Tell me you have not forgotten the Musk, and 'their' Kettle and Ladle!" When Herb's eyes bulged dangerously close to escaping their sockets, the monk guffawed. "Well there you go! The problem was never there in the first place. The Nyanniichuan _worked_, after all." The monk proceeded to slap his knees, before falling back on his rump. "That was easy. Debt repaid for playing at being your memory. Now, take ease! Do not be so troubled! It mars your beauty, which is already heavily obscured on this most curious day."

Herb didn't thank him. He didn't even give him another glance. Instead, he dashed off toward where he knew Musk lands were to test the idea he'd just been given. He missed, as a result, more pointless abuse heaped on him, as well as the man striking out a name on a scroll he carried. These certainly would answer no nagging questions the peculiar monk had raised, nor make sense of his uncommon knowledge or behaviour.

* * *

Turmeric, prince of the Musk, had been astonished to discover that the giant metal birds actually had human handlers. His disbelief had bubbled over when he learned they had had human _makers _as well!He was still a bit sceptical of the whole arrangement. _'But,' _he cautioned, _'it is difficult to deny I am being hauled around inside one, like it's some manner of giant, flying, self-propelled carriage!'_

Of course, _boarding_ one of these fantastic 'aeroplanes' as he had been told they were called, had not been a task without difficulty. It had been something like a game, in the beginning. Turmeric told the man at the gates that he would be investigating one of them, specifically one headed to, or over, Japan. The very official man had, in turn, told him that this would never occur if he was unable to produce identification. It appeared that neither his signature, nor his seal, nor even his distinctive appearance counted as 'identification'. Finally, the official man refusing him access had yelled in frustration that the plane heading that way was presently leaving, and that the Musk prince might as well get his proper paperwork to catch a later flight.

He'd jovially told the man it would be no problem, and he'd just catch it before it left. A lazy hop brought Turmeric over the gates, and drew the official's ire, because he raised a general hue and cry. The aged martial artist conceded that perhaps he'd overreacted, but the sight of the same manner of weapon the bandits who had sacked the village his wife once lived in being drawn and pointed in his direction had produced an emotional, rather than rational reaction. Since the official's hat and boots had remained, it seemed probable replacing him wouldn't be too challenging. The steaming tunnel of devastated stone which was all that remained of his desk and the wall behind it would certainly be more expensive.

The situation had escalated from there, but a lightning dash for the passenger bird the dead man had indicated allowed Turmeric to alight on its wing before it accelerated to a pace he was unable to match, and spared many other officials from offering any sort of offence which might have been fatal to them.

Of course, riding on the beast's wing was terribly painful with the wind whipping by at such great speeds. Realizing that just standing out there simply wouldn't do, he knocked on the bird's door, and _that_ had caused a panic within when his presence was noted. Still, the people aboard had been very polite, if strange, by putting on funny masks and slowing their conveyance down in order to open the door for him. He had commented on that, and how impressed he was by them, when he was led to a seat by a frightened, nervous young woman with a partially concealed blemish by her lips. They had called a doctor to assure his well-being at their destination, despite his assurance that he was more than well.

The blemished woman had even made a tongue-in-cheek remark about it being fortunate he was in the prime of his youth! There had been one unpleasant bit where he'd had to help the men steering the bird to point it East. They had been about to turn around the way they'd come, at one point. Still, giving them some pointers in keeping oriented while in flight had helped resolve the matter. It did well to remember that even _he_ had needed to learn how to fly, once. He'd told them about the experience, too, to help ease their uncertainty about their performance. They'd still been uneasy, but things had got back on course and he was free to go back to speaking with that funny young woman with the discoloured mark.

The other passengers had mostly proven to be worriers, questioning what had happened to him. When he told them he was just going to drag his great-grandson and young wife kicking and screaming back to Quinghai province, it hadn't seemed to ease their concerns at all. When he finally spotted Japan out one of the small windows, it couldn't have come too soon. He bid the other passengers goodbye and made his way to the door. The young woman with the spot _refused_ to allow him to leave mid-flight, but she had relented when he told her that should she not open the portal, he most assuredly would. She had a good memory for how he'd helped the men doing the steering to unlock their door, which was barring him from offering his much-needed advice.

And that is how Turmeric, twice-ruler of the Musk, found himself plummeting towards the Western coast of Japan, frost in his eyelashes, assuring himself that there was nothing undignified about screaming out his _elation_ at this long fall. He decided that _perhaps_ the funny young marked woman was right about this being dangerous. _'I shouldn't have abandoned my kite.'_

* * *

Herb's eyes, still wet from when she'd cried earlier, filled up once more. She choked, and coughed, and began _laughing_, even as she sobbed. _'What the heck is wrong with her __**now**__?' _For the life of her, Ranma couldn't figure out why the larger girl had just been set off. Despite the incredible awkwardness of the situation – and for Ranma there was very little more awkward than being a girl in the woman's side of a facility in hot water while _another_ girl was crying her eyes out right in front of her because of something she'd said – she put a hand on Herb's shoulder and squeezed in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

"Hey! Uhh... It's OK, really. I dunno what I said but I'm really really sorry! C'mon, _please_ be OK?" The pleading words seemed to bear only minimal fruit. Herb, still shaking, looked back up at her. Even obscured by the inhuman eyes peering out of it, everything about the dragon girl's face made clear that whatever it had been was still affecting her strongly. She was visibly struggling to regain control of herself, but it didn't seem to be working. _'Oh, hell, whatever it is please let her not do something crazy. She isn't gonna be one of those safe crazies.' _Nothing changed for what might have been the longest seconds in weeks. The taller girl didn't move to grasp, or cry on the smaller, and _she_ didn't move to add to or detract from the single hand applying periodic pressure to the other's shoulder.

Ranma noticed that both Lime and Mint were peering over the barricades between the sex-segregated baths in mute terror. She was worried Herb might get worse if she drew attention to them, so she subtly tried to indicate that they should duck their heads. Seeing as how they didn't take the hint though, she hoped it was only _their_ funeral when their mistress made the same observation. A growl from one of the guards led to a near-instantaneous pressure wave sundering their hiding place and sending the pair skipping across the water's surface before skidding off into the brush and downhill.

"I... am well. Very well." The words were croaked out by the foreign girl, who hadn't turned her gaze from Ranma's for an instant, and who still had a trail of tears running down her cheek. "Even a pri- prince of the Musk can shed tears in happiness. It is-" Herb's speech was interrupted by her sniffing loudly. "It is acceptable. I am... I am punished for foolishness, now. I did not _hear_ what they all said. This is _my_ fault, for being stupid. And now my punishment is success. Can't you see how _funny_ and _joyous_ it is?"

The pig-tailed girl was a bit sceptical of the sentiments expressed through words, given the speaker seemed to be suffering from the depressingly familiar and easily identified feelings of transcendent frustration and shame-induced rage. _'What the hell is she even going on about now? Does she think she can pretend she's __**happy **__or somethin'__? Why the hell's she gotta pretend? Why'd she have a breakdown now? When are girls gonna make a lick of sense?'_ Instead of voicing any of those pertinent questions in face of the girl tossing around deadly ki blasts without preparation, hesitation, or calling them out in any way, Ranma went for a more neutral, "Yeah... I mean, what girl wouldn't be happy ta be able to have kids?" Accompanying it by a nervous laugh was inevitable; _she_ knew it was a lame thing to say, after all.

For some reason _that_ put a real smile on the Musk girl's face for a moment. _'Maybe it's related to her brand of crazy? Least it doesn't seem like the kind that leaves me half-dead. I feel bad for Lime and Mint, but you won't catch me askin' for their lot.'_ The taller girl then reached for her own towel to dry her eyes, given that Ranma's had long since been dropped in the water.

Herb chuckled out, "I thought you'd see why it was funny, too." Giving an awkward smile back, the Neriman martial artist tried to retract her arm so she could get back to a comfortable distance from the now stable-seeming Herb.

Only, the other girl's hand shot out and caught it, leaving it where it was. Herb's soft, but unwavering voice said, "I did not give you permission to stop." Without waiting for Ranma's response, she leaned back into the water and closed her eyes

Awkward as the request was, Ranma wasn't about to see if she could get the Dynastic heir going again. "Sure. Whatever you want, princess." The word was out before the redhead could think of how to arrest it. She'd been doing her best to avoid it, but as a jab that _always_ seemed to work it was nearly impossible for a student of the Saotome School of Anything Goes to fail to make use of.

Instead of yelling, or getting violent, or anything else normal, Herb merely gave another choked laugh before saying with conviction. "Yes. I had that coming, and you do not even know why. A term of endearment, then... I have so much to think about; tell me one of your ridiculous stories as a distraction!"

"Ya know, Herb, these hot springs aren't so relaxing," she groused. Since it made the other girl burst out in proper laughter, she decided it was OK to laugh too. Only she saw the two bodyguards limping back to their side of the springs, Mint with some help from Lime, and so there was another possible threat averted. The resort staff had the presence of mind to not come out and investigate more closely, so that was enough things going right that no damage control would be needed on those fronts.

The Saotome recounted a less embarrassing edit of the martial arts takeout delivery contest she'd participated in, all while Herb grinned, laughed, or asked for clarification. Her mind though was elsewhere, doing what minds are prone to doing. _'It's kinda nice, being close to a girl who isn't throwing herself or other things at me. No crazy fathers in the way, no stupid, jealous rivals. Scary as hell, but a lot less intimidating without all the other crap getting involved._

_'But man, __she's really crazy pretty,_ _even after bawling her eyes out. Even the really weird things only make it worse. How's someone get to be __**that**_ _good looking, and good at martial arts while being almost sane and being set to inherit some ancient kingdom?' _Ranma smirked, then, and let herself get a bit more comfortable. _'Heh. 'course someone like her'd pick someone as handsome and awesome as me as a first choice. Maybe whoever she winds up with'll be a decent 'second best'._

"And like I keep saying, that Kuno guy is a complete moron. He _still_ hasn't picked up on my curse, even though I changed _while he was holding onto me_." Her story, like many others on the long days of trekking toward Horai, seemed to make Herb pretty happy, and had the added benefit of taking her mind off the possibility of not getting the Ladle back. It was a possibility that now worried Ranma, too. _'For Herb's sake, I'm __**definitely**_ _gonna find bacon-bits and give him a piece of my mind. She seems to really want to be a mom. I guess it's possible Jusenkyo __**could**_ _do something good for someone._

_'I bet this is what it would've been like, getting to know girls, if it hadn't been for the engagements and Shampoo and all that craziness. Trading stories, spending time doing things you both wanna do together, relaxing. Stupid old man. I __**like**_ _this.' _Thinking more on that, Ranma bowed her head. _'Damn it. I kind of like her, even if she is always so freaking bossy. Maybe... maybe I would've seen how things went by dating her, instead of telling her flat-out no. Ahh hell, that's dangerous territory. Can't let her catch me looking at her, thinking things like __**that**__. We're already sharing a tent! She'll really get the wrong idea.' _Suddenly Ranma was feeling just a little dizzier than moments ago. She couldn't believe how insistent the presently docile girl had been that they should continue with those sleeping arrangements, but she never exposed herself, or groped Ranma.

Tamping down hard on the part of her mind suggesting that, perhaps, the idea Herb might receive wasn't altogether wrong and securing the gates of the fortress of honour once more, she decided it was past time the two of them get out of the water, lest one or both of them should pass out. Either of them being sick would seriously mess up the massive conflict they were going to be having eventually. It was a fight she'd been looking forward to since getting surprised back in Nerima, and seeing more of the Musk's style had done much to inflame that. Much safer and more productive thoughts picked up from there. _'Right. She got the drop on me last time, but I'm gonna destroy her in the next real fight as long as I can get her riled up. Then I'll be a man again __**and**_ _I'll have beaten a bad-ass dragon princess... nah, more proper to go with dragon prince, 'cause the Musk don't do "girls". And it sounds more awesome. Pops'll probably quit harping on me for at least a day, maybe even two.'_

"Hey, Herb. We've been in the water too long; it can really do a number on you." Ranma stood without hesitation, and got to shaking the tall, foreign girl's shoulder, also using it as support due to how unstable _she_ was. The only response given was a small nod, before the Musk girl also stood with a tiny wobble and seemed to subconsciously wrap her towel back around herself. Following suit came naturally to Ranma, since the Musk prince seemed to have a serious hang-up about nudity on _anyone's _part. Come to it, she wished the two bodyguards travelling with them shared the same reservations. _'Perverts.'_

The pair dried off in silence, dressed, then made their way to the room they were sharing. That Herb had sprung for two mattresses without prompting helped the pig-tailed martial artist's confidence in her current companion's honesty along a great deal. Not being stupid, Ranma knew that the strange girl still wanted something to happen between them. That she did no more than leave the possibility open without complaint when it failed to manifest made that a little less uncomfortable than it might have been.

By one wall an ugly, orange-yellow envelope taunted Ranma, and reminded her that sleep would be short in the coming days. Akane had been true to her word, and mailed Ranma both class notes and instructions for any out of class assignments received here; it's why the resort had been on the path they had chosen, after all. "Urk," was her only immediate response to the heinously large stack of notes that spilled forth from the envelope. The smug thing drifted to the ground and left the weight of its many, many assignments on the pigtailed girl's shoulders.

"Good night," Herb mumbled, from where she was clearly already drowsing off while Ranma was still looking over the full workload the last few weeks had bestowed upon her.

"Night," she replied, and then lost interest until she finished her inventory.

Her first thought amounted to wondering how her History teacher expected her to manage a group exercise from another island altogether. The second was that, given the workload she was faced with, there would be little room for sparring unless she read the notes while running. 'Excellent peripheral vision and broad spacial awareness reaction training,' Saotome Genma had called it back when Ranma was still an elementary school student. It had prepared the Saotome heir for some of the more confused melees that occasionally broke out in Nerima. Her third thought was that, since Herb was not presently sleeping on her bag as a pillow, there would never be a better opportunity to root through her things for secret techniques, manuals, and weaknesses to take advantage of in the final showdown with her.

_'Sorry princess,'_ Ranma thought at the girl's sleeping body. _'But it's Anything Goes, and you should be __**honoured**_ _I consider you good enough to take every advantage I can.'_

Now, unlike that first disappointing night, there was light to see the contents of the bag by. The always clean change of outer clothes Herb kept, courtesy of Mint, lay atop of a box filled with just over two million yen and almost twice that value in yuan. _'And she was complaining about money? Jeez.'_ There were scrolls the Anything Goes student could make neither heads nor tails of, a pair of matching jade figurines wrapped in thick, soft cloth, some bottles of ink, a writing quill, a tiny booklet stuffed with loose paper, and a remarkable array of hair care tools, including a hand mirror. There were also some feminine hygiene products that brought back terrible memories of some of her earliest days with the Tendos.

The booklet was a clear disappointment. It was all in Chinese, and despite having visited the country, Ranma had a limited grasp of what all the characters meant to them. The loose papers, however, were in a mix of Chinese and formal, over-complicated Japanese.

"So You're Suddenly a Woman," she mouthed.

Two crimson, reptilian eyes appeared in the hand mirror she had yet to return to the sack. "Do you think it is a good translation?"

The icy tone of the question was not very reassuring.

* * *

"But... it just feels like we did nothing. How can we say we aided prince Herb when we just sat around and watched?"

Mint's nervousness and excitation was grating on Lime. If his partner hadn't been taking such an unusual pleasure in falling asleep at his own discretion lately, the massive bodyguard might have helped him along to ease his own growing headache.

"Mint," he explained with exaggerated patience, giving ample pause between ideas. "Nothing works. We _know_ that, so we should _do_ that. We do not know if anything else works, so we should _not_ do _that_."

Mint, who had been hopping from foot to foot throughout the halting, simple explanation, persisted, face scrunched up with uncertainty. "But what if he is made too unhappy? I like Ranma, but he cannot be content that he is unable to match our master, even when she is holding herself back as much as she is. What if he leaves her in shame?"

Lifting himself from his own sleeping mat, Lime donned the complimentary robe he'd found there on entry. It was softer than anything he had ever touched. He rested his massive hands on the windowsill, and looked upon the Japanese countryside spread out before him. For all that Mint obviously had something wrong, _what_ he had wrong was not in any way apparent.

_'A husband __**must**_ _be able to best his wife.'_ As far as the Musk knew, this was a truth. But Herb was descended from dragons. _'The royal family is almost unbeatable. I was celebrated for defeating her __**twice**_ _when we were still children. It has not happened since.' _It didn't seem reasonable to expect Ranma, who had none of the advantages of Musk heritage, to close the vast gulf in power. _'I would do no better than Ranma is doing now, though. Worse, I think. He is fantastic.'_

As far as Lime understood it, Herb would _technically_ be Ranma's husband. _'Do technicalities count?'_ If Ranma were considered as a woman, _she_ was absolutely ideal. She was as close a match to Herb as was likely to crop up outside the royal family itself, but Lime was certain it would rankle at the pigtailed youth who so insisted that she was a man, and the best.

_'Many people who are not Musk do not even consider the martial arts in their marriages,'_ the tiger clansman allowed, ignoring whatever new problem his partner had invented to distract himself from the first. _'It is likely that Herb will have to think that way, since she will not find someone as good as her, only close. If she already thinks that way...'_

Smacking his fists into windowsill lightly, leaving knuckle-shaped grooves, Lime turned and explained what he'd been thinking to Mint, who was rambling off about something altogether different once more. "Our prince _knows_ that she cannot be beaten. She's _holding back_ so Ranma can become good enough to beat her like _that_! He has never seen her fight at her best." His understanding of the situation explained the larger guard sat down to rest. Sorting out a puzzle always helped ease pressure for him.

Mint readily dropped the new topic of his endless worry, something about cooking, to return to what he'd just had explained to him with a little more hope. "Women are subtle and crafty creatures... I did not think to lump the prince in with them; that was foolish of me. Ranma will need a lot of help to get there by the time we reach Horai Mountain, though." So agitated was the wolf clansman that he was hopping from foot to foot at almost imperceptible speeds.

Shrugging, Lime sighed out, "then we help him, like Herb obviously wants. Even she is helping him every day."

"I guess. They get along so well that they will surely be ready to wed after that duel of theirs. Ranma stops her from being sad; I wonder if he will teach me how to treat a wife one day? Still, there is so much that will destroy tradition about their union!"

"Our prince is a woman. She will be king one day. Our current king made this so. If he is not concerned with tradition, why should we be?" The last was a growled out challenge. After that glorious soak, only interrupted by one lazy energy blast, Lime knew he was destined for the most restful night he'd had in months.

When no serious response came, he lay back down and closed his eyes. Mint seemed to follow suit, and all was right with the world

Moments later, the panicked shrieks of one woman, and the furious cries of another showed Lime's headache the way home.

* * *

**_Author's Note_: Here it is, at last, after much longer than I'm happy with. I'd like to blame it all on circumstance, but I really went and got myself distracted by deeply irrelevant things. At least they're slowing down, finally.**

**I have received numerous reviews, but have only responded to particularly long ones, or really most within the first couple weeks of a chapter release. One review stood out that I really _did_ need to answer for my own benefit.  
**

**Ryo-Wolf: **You know, I haven't the foggiest how that happened. I think it's quite probably something that I read in a separate fanfic that I liked so much more than the canon scenario that I completely edited _out_ the canon scenario. I'll have to be more careful about that in the future, thanks!

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter. A lot more of the underlying metaphysics are beginning to show, and bit by bit the Musk culture, and the history that created the current storyline, are being revealed.**

**Since it was not patently obvious to all readers, and resulted in a fairly embarrassing review, and _should_ be utterly unmistakable at this point, much of Herb's change in personality and curious acquisition of virtues is as a result of being cursed to change into a social animal, rather than of changing into a female one in specific.**

**Read, Review, what have you. Also, I discovered I was not accepting anonymous reviewers previously. Well, Anon, now you too can give me a piece of your mind. As before, any and all help is greatly appreciated.  
**


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